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www.comune.pistoia.it/eng/scoperta
.The origin of
the city of Pistoia is linked to the northward expansion
of the Roman state, although one cannot exclude the
possibility of previous settlements by other peoples
such as the Etruscans, whose presence here is suggested
by some archaeological artifacts found near the present
day piazza del Duomo .
At the beginning of the second century
before Christ, when the Romans engaged in a bitter war
against the Ligurian peoples in the Appenine hills,
Pistoia was probably a fortified city (oppidum) that
served as a supply post for the legions. lts name
Pistoria, Pistoriae or Pistorium may be indicative of
this role because pistoria in Latin denotes the oven
used for baking bread.
With the extension of the Cassia road
as far as Lucca, Pistoia consolidated its importance in
the territory even though the only notable event that
involved the city was the defeat of Cataline and his
followers in an undefined locality of the ager
pistoriensis in January 62 B.C.. In the fifth century
Pistoia became a bishopric and was brutally sacked by
the Radagaiso Goths (405 B.C.), The later Lombard rule
was important for the city which, because of its
vicinity to the Byzantine border, took on a primary
strategic role and became a gastaldato - a compartment
ruled by a viceroy - that answered directly to the king.
In this period Pistoia was surrounded by a city wall
and the center of the city was organized around the
curtis domini regis .
Confirmation of the city's prominence
can be seen in the authorization to mint a silver coin:
the Pistoian tremisse. During the eighth century the
important religious institutions (n.27/30/31)
that had been built outside the city wall marked the
direction of new urban development while in the next
century the city's political life was organized around
the bishop's court .Little is known about the domination
of the Franks that followed Lombard rule nor of the
Ottolingian period when Pistoia, too, was caught up in
the development of the western world that was
characterized by a closed economy and a feudal kind of
political system.
The Guidi and Cadolingi Counts rivaled
with the bishop for control over the city. The new
millennium brought changes in the political institutions;
in 1105 the city was ruled by consuls, the most ancient
form of democratic rnagistracy, and in 1158 the podestà
or governor curbed the power of the bishop who had
built his fortified palazzo near the cathedral .
In 1177 the city passed its first statute, one of the
oldest in Italy. During the eleventh and twelfth
centuries, Pistoia distinguished itself for its strong
economic growth; as a consequence the city carne to
control a large territory that exceeded what is today
the province of Pistoia.
In this period, perhaps its most
glorious one, the city took on the Romanesque appearance
that is still today its main characteristic and a new
city wall was built. Civic life was disrupted, however,
first by the struggles between opposing Guelf and
Ghibelline factions and later between White and Black
parties.
The thirteenth century was a moment of serious political
crisis and Pistoia found itself caught between the two
opposing powers of Florence and Lucca. There were many
battles with these two cities; in the early fourteenth
century the alliance of the two resulted in one of the
most painful pages in the city's history: the siege of
1306.
Throughout the century, Pistoia tried to free itself but
was placed under the rule first of Uguccione della
Faggiola, Vinceguerra Panciatichi and Robert d'Anjou and
then under Castruccio Castracani who ruled for Lucca, in
mid century, just when it seemed like Pistoia was going
to win back its autonomy, it entered the Fiorentine
sphere of influence, having been seriously dirninished
both demographically and economically by the disastrous
plagues of 1 348 and 1400 |
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In 1401 Pistoia lost its independence
forever and became an integral part of the
Fiorentine dominions. On September 10 of that year,
after a true military incursion, some Florentine
soldiers succeeded in gaining the City Hall;
Florence put their own governor in office, thus
wresting from Pistoia control over a large part of
its surrounding lands. Even the diocese was
subordinated to the one in Florence so that, from
this moment on, the city's bishops would come mostly
from the Tuscan capital. For the whole Medici era (fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries) Pistoia did not make its
own history although it was a key player in several
noteworthy episodes.During the first half of the
1500s there was a continual flaring up of fighting
between the factions led by the noble Cancellieri
and Panciatichi families
It was this struggle to attain the
few important political positions available that
brought Machiavelli to the city in an attempt to
shed light on these violent incidents. He convinced
Florence to increase its power over Pistoia, thus
undercutting any appearance of local autonomy.
In the following years, the city prospered, as can
be seen in the many noble buildings that even today
enhance the streets. Peace was maintained until 1643
when the Papal troops surrounded and besieged the
city. The townspeople showed great courage in their
resistance . In the sarne century Pistoia witnessed
the ascendancy to the Papai throne of a
representative of the clty aristocracy: Cardinai
Giulio Rospigliosi who took the name of Clemente IX
.
During the first half of the 1700s
when the Grand Duke Giangascone, the last descendent
of the Medici, died Tuscany passed under the rule of
the Lorena family. Especially under the enlightened
Pietro Leopoldo, Pistoia enjoyed a prosperous
period. The modernization of the trans-Appenine
roadways, with the road to Modena, restored to the
city its central role in free trade with the North
which had once been its oldest and primary activity.
At the end of the nineteenth century, all of
Europe's attention turned to Pistoia for the
diocesan synod summoned, in agreement with the Grand
Duke, by Bishop Scipione de' Ricci, well-known for
his Jansenist ideas of radical church reform. The
people of Pistoia, just like Pope Pius VI, did not
know what to make of this high prelate's innovative
ideas and he was forced to leave the city a few
years later .
At the end of the century Pistoia was
occupied by French troops led by the young general
Napoleon. The next year all of Tuscany was under
French control. During Napoleonic rule Pistoia was
included in the Area of the Arno and became a
municipality governed by a French maire. With the
Congress of Vienna and the restoration in Tuscany,
the Lorenas returned and took up the program of
reform initiated by Pietro Leopoldo. In 1851 the
Maria Antonia railway arrived in Pistoia from
Florence and in 1864, after the Unification of
Italy, the Porrettana railway was completed.
Pistoia participated in the
Risorgimento not only with the sacrifice of Attilio
Frosini, Sergio Sacconi and Torello Biagioni, killed
by the Austrians - not to mention the many others
who fought for independence - but also through the
philanthropy and art patronage of Niccolò Puccini
In 1848 the Grand Duke named Pistoia capital of a
cornpartment and it was given a prefecture; just
three years later it was degraded - as a punishment,
it is said, for the city's pro-unification stance -
to the level of sub-prefecture. From 1849 to 1855
the city was occupied by the Austrian troops that
had been called to assist the Lorenas. In 1860 the
citizens of Pistoia voted to join the kingdom of
ltaly. Between the nineteenth and twentieth
centuties Pistoia began to take on a more modern
appearance as it underwent the process of
industrialization; the San Giorgio company from
Genoa built a factory here for the budding
automobile industry. The city also promoted urban
development even though the surrounding countryside
remained prevalently agricultural
With the abolition of the city toll
gates in 1909, the city walls lost all their
significance and they were partially torn down
Later, whole medieval sections would be demolished
as a large part of the city changed its appearance.
During the Fascist period Pistoia was promoted to a
provincial capital. During the Second World War, the
city was a center of strong anti-German resistance
and, especially in the countryside, the consequences
of the harsh retaliations were badly felt. When the
Partisans freed Pistoia on September 8, 1944 they
found a very badly damaged city. With the
reconstruction Pistoia has been transformed and
today it is an important center for commerce and
industry, linked to the Fiorentine metropolitan area
and characterized by, among other things, a
particular vocation for tree and plant producing
nurseries.
www.comune.pistoia.it/eng/scoperta
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The Zoological Gardens
of Pistoia
( just out the center, is a
big hill) were created on the initiative of
Raffaello Galardini and inaugurated on April 19th
1970. The zoo is situated in the beautiful hills
around Pistoia in a wooded area of 75,000m², and is
the home of over 600 animals including about 65
species of mammals, 40 species of birds and 30 of
reptiles. The majestic jaguar, the mighty polar
bear, the agile Rothschild's giraffe, the enormous
reticulated python and the rare Madagascan
ring-tailed lemur are just some of the animals to be
found in the zoo. New plans to make the zoo even
more attractive and interesting will soon be
underway: the management intends to make it a
leading conservation centre for endangered species
and for nature and environmental study. A day at the
zoo is undoubtedly a unique opportunity to
experience the animal world at close range.
Near Pistoia ther is a The
park of COLLODI
EVERY YEAR IN THE CENTER
OF PISTOIA
THE PISTOIA BLUES IN
A BIG EVENT (3 days) WITH
FAMOUS ROCK STARS
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