Buggiano in Tuscany

Palazzo Carozzi-Sannini, raised in the XVIII century and seat of the municipal Library, the castle and the Basilica of the Santo Crocifisso, built between the XIII and the XIV century, can be admired in the town of Buggiano in the province of Pistoia. This town is one of the most ancient in the Valdinievole and it has about 8,000 inhabitants.

The area of Buggiano has always been characterized by a peculiar strategic importance. In effect, the road that linked Lucca and Florence can be seen from its hills. Since the ancient times, therefore, the Etruscans, the Romans and the Lombards had settled this territory. In 991, a document already cited Sigifredo dei Lombardi di Maona, the Lombard-born leader of the feudal dynasty that dominated the area of Buggiano in the first centuries of the Middle Ages.
In the XII century, Buggiano seemed to be an autonomous city-state. In effect, a document dating to 1191 testifies the presence of a podestà and of some consuls, institutional figures that wer not nominated by the feudatories, in the village. The following centuries were characterized by the fights with other city-states and by the bloody war between Guelfs and Ghibellines. In 1315, the battle between the Florentines and the Ghibellines Militia from Lucca headed by Uguccione della Faggiola took place in the forest/wood of Santa Maria.
In 1339, the town of Buggiano fell under the authority of Florence together with the whole Valdinievole. This event was consecrated by adding the lily in the town's emblem where the "Bove" first stood. Some years later, the Florentine Republic issued the new statutes with which the autonomy of Buggiano was settled. Since then, the town always remained under the Florentine aegis since it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, created in 1537, until the Unity of Italy in 1860.