The origin of
the city of Pitoia 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 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.
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.
Chronology
II sec.B.C. Probable period of Pistoia's origin.
IV sec.A.D. Pistoia oppidum romano (Ammiano Marcellino).
Early V sec. The Radagaiso Goths destroy the city.
Mid VI sec. The city is ruled by the Byzantine iudex.
Late VI sec. Pistoia, conquered by the Lombards, becomes a royal city and a
gastaldato.
VII-VIII sec. Lombard rule.
IX sec. Frankish rule, followed by the ltalic reign (888) and the Ottonian
dynasty; centralized power is weakened to the advantage of local lords.
X-XI sec. Feudal powers of the bishop and of the Cadolingi and Guidi Counts are
strengthened; the economy and population start to take off.
Early XIIsec.
1105 The Commune is founded.
Docurnents refer for the first time to the presence of Consuls, later replaced
by the governor.
XII sec. The first statute of the Commune.
Pistoia widens its territorial boundaries, increases its urban area, begins
collaborative relations with Pisa, another Ghibelline city. Pistoia is involved
in military actions against Florence and Lucca who curb its expansion
Mid XII sec. The relic of San Jacopo arrives in Pistoia from Spanish Galicia.
EarlyXIII sec.
Fighting with the nearby cities of Florence, Lucca and Bologna.
XIII sec.
Several powerful merchant-bankers frorn Pistoia are active on an international
level.
1228
The Guelf party gains in strength, weakening the still powerful Ghibelline
party.
1251-1254 War with Florence. In the peace treaty of Empoli (1254) Pistoia cedes
its government to the Guelfs supported by Florence.
1260-1266 The revival and definitive fall of the Ghibelline faction.
1267 Pistoia is once again under Fiorentine control.
1295 Florence strengthens its position in the city.
1305-1306 The siege of Pistoia.
1306
After eleven rnonths of siege the city surrenders to the allied forces of
Florence and Lucca; the city wall is torn down.
1329-1351 Progressive Fiorentine predominance over Pistoia.
1336 Cino da Pistoia dies.
1348 The black plague in Pistoia.
1402 Pistoia's statutes are revised and placed under Florentine rule.
1434 Cosimo il Vecchio dei Medici comes to power.
1436 Donato dei Medici becomes Bishop of Pistoia.
1469 Giuliano and Lorenzo dei Medici come to power.
1478 Lorenzo the Magnificent is Lord of Florence.
1490 The miracle of the Virgin of Humility.
1492-1494 The death of Lorenzo and the exile of the Medici from Florence.
1494-1512 The Fiorentine Republic under Pier Soderini; Pistoia Is devastated by
fighting between opposing Panciatichi and Cancellieri factions for the
nomination of Administrator of the Ospedale del Ceppo. (1498)
1512 The Medici return to power.
1512-1537 Harsh conflict among city factions follows the fortunes of the Medici
party in Florence
1527 The Medici flee from Florence and there is a brief republican period.
1529 The Cancellieri family are driven out of Pistoia and their houses burned.
1530 Alessandro dei Medici returns to Florence. (The death of Francesco Ferrucci
in Gavinana.)
1537 Cosimo I cornes to power.
1538-1546 Pistoians are forbidden access to public magistrate positions.
1569 Tuscany becomes a Grand Duchy
1630 The plague described by Manzoni in The Betrothed breaks out in Pistoia
1643 The siege of Pistoia.
1667 Giulio Rospigliosi is elected Pope
1777 Institution of the Civic Community of Pistoia
1786 The Synod of Pistoia
1796 The French control the city.
1814 The Lorenas return to Florence.
1849 Austrian occupation of Pistoia.
1861 The Kingdom of Italy.
1927 Pistoia becomes a province.
