Campi Bisenzio is a municipality in the metropolitan city of Florence, Tuscany. The municipal territory is flat, and is crossed from north to south by the Bisenzio River.
In ancient times, the locality was known only as “Campi”: this is how Dante Alighieri mentions it, for example, in his Divine Comedy. The name perhaps derived from the subdivision of the territory into numerous fields. The present name of Campi Bisenzio was assumed only in 1862, with the addition of the name of the river that flows through the town.
According to tradition, the first inhabitants of the town were the Ligurians. In Roman times, an arrangement of the urban layout took place according to the model of the Roman Castrum.
Beginning in the year 1000, the first settlements developed near the Bisenzio River. The Bisenzio River constituted the main source of wealth for the town. It was also used for the operation of the first mills, although throughout history it was also the cause of continuous flooding that exacerbated the phenomenon of swamping.
During the 8th century, Campi Bisenzio became a fief of the powerful Mazzinghi family, who ruled the area for a long time and built a fortress there.
According to historical records, during the 13th century Campi Bisenzio was the area where the rivalry between Guelphs, supporters of the Papacy, and Ghibellines, supporters of the Empire, first flared up following a quarrel during a local festival and a subsequent argument between two families belonging to the two opposing factions.
Throughout the century Campi Bisenzio suffered the consequences of the constant incursions of the Ghibellines, until the destruction of the town at the Battle of Montaperti in 1260. The political events that followed the 1260 defeat caused the Mazzinghi family to move away from Campi Bisenzio.
In 1295 the Strozzi family acquired much of the land and was later replaced by the Ruccellai family.
In 1364 Campi Bisenzio suffered heavily from the consequences of the ongoing conflict between Florence and Pisa. The town, devastated by the conflict, then became part of the Republic of Florence, which carried out its reconstruction and fortification and maintained control until the end of the 14th century.
By now firmly in the Florentine orbit, a period of economic flourishing began for Campi Bisenzio as early as the time of Cosimo I de’ Medici, who began the first works of land reclamation and the arrangement of the road system.
Under Medici rule, agricultural activities were resumed and an early form of handicrafts were also developed with straw and wool processing.
During the seventeenth century, the territory suffered several floods due to the Bisenzio River, which were the cause of the subsequent malaria epidemics and therefore the beginning of a period of economic and demographic decline that was only halted in the eighteenth century with the coming to power of the Lorraine family, which put in place numerous land reclamation works in the territory.
In 1744, the municipality of Campi Bisenzio was formed from the union with the communities of Signa and Lecore.
In the early nineteenth century, with the Napoleonic invasion, Campi Bisenzio was subjected to imperial laws and remained in that condition until 1814. Subsequently, the town revived its economy and, in 1861, the year in which its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy by King Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy took place, it already had more than nine thousand inhabitants.
Notable monuments in Campi Bisenzio include the Pieve di Santo Stefano, the Church of Santa Maria, the Church of San Martino, the Palazzo Comunale, the Dante Theater, the Villa Rucellai, the Villa Montalvo, and the Rocca degli Strozzi.
Source: Campi Bisenzio – Wikipedia, Campi Bisenzio – The municipality of Campi Bisenzio.
