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The area of present-day Montespertoli was inhabited by the Etruscans,
but Latin place names such as Coeli Aula, Montagnana and
Poppiano derive from the numerous Roman settlements that flourished here.
Settlement by the Romans is evidenced by numerous archaeological findings,
including the memorial stones in Santa Maria a Torre, in Ortimino and in San Piero in Mercato.
With the decline of the Roman Empire, first the Franks and then the
Lombards invaded much of present-day Tuscany,
to the extent that we sometimes refer to 'Tuscia Longobardorum' as
replacing 'Tuscia Romanorum'. However, it is unclear just how much
influence remains of the Lombard occupation, other than few place names and some
family names. Unlike the Romans, it appears that the Lombard rules Tuscany in
the form of multiple, small, loosely confederated "dukedoms" without a wholesale
replacement of local culture and population.
The scarcity of mediaeval archaeological relics does not provide specific references for all the villages, but at that time
Lucardo must certainly have been one of the main settlements in the area, as well as the most significant village around Montespertoli owned by the Nonantola abbey.
The Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire were the most influential political forces in the Middle Ages and all the big feoffees bore allegiance to
one or the other (Guelph
and
Ghibelline
respectively). However, as the towns became more populous and more powerful,
their autonomy increased and their power extended further and further into the surrounding countryside, at the expense of the feoffees.
The 12 C was dominated by the struggle between the feudal lords (the
"aristocracy") and the rulimg merchant classes of the larger towns.
Simultaneously, the smaller rural communities became eager to be granted some
say in the government of their own communities and to obtain more favorable
conditions for their farming activities.
The birth of the Municipality of Montespertoli occurred within the political
environment of the struggle between the feudal lords and the Florentine republic, which since the beginning of the 12
C had fought for its independence, liberating itself from the imperial influence represented by the marquises of Tuscany.
Some of the feudal lords made the towns the centre of their activities while others kept fighting until their final defeat by the Florentine army.
The fall of the Alberti Counts and the handing over of the Pogni and Semifonte castles marked the start of a different evolution.
As soon as villages freed themselves from feudal lordship, they united in small autonomous federations, called "populi", which were under the civil jurisdiction of Florence but were so proud of their independence and of their ancient origins that, instead of referring to the city's authorities, they exclusively referred to the local parish church and its parish priest, sometimes replaced by magistrates called "rectors", elected by the citizens of each single community.
Churches were the centres of religious life, but they were also used for public
assemblies, thus taking on the true role of Pieve (parish church), a word which derives from the term
plebs, the people's church. The Piviere was therefore the original and first form of rural municipality in the Florentine countryside around the 13
C. Later, some pivieri joined together and formed the so-called "leghe di popolo" or "leghe comunali" (people's leagues or
municipal leagues), of which the
Lega del Chianti (Chianti League) is one of the most famous.
The first league in the Montespertoli area derived from the union of the pivieri
San Piero in Mercato, San Pancrazio and Coeli Aula. The league had as its coat-of-arms the keys of the parish church of 'San Piero', together with the lily symbolizing the allegiance to the
Lega da Firenze (League of Florence) and the star, indicating the long-established authority of the Alberti Counts in the area.
The importance of Montespertoli was always dependent on the road network that
helped Florence trade with
Volterra and
Sienna along the
Via Volterrana, which crossed the municipality of Montespertoli from
north to south and joined the
Via
Francigena near
Certaldo. With the removal of the market and the podestà from
Montespertoli in the 15 C, together with the development of more direct road
connections, the importance of the town declined. The most important annual
event in Montespertoli is now the anuual Chianti wine festival - the
Mostra del Chianti Montespertoli.
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