The town of Marradi is in the province of Florence at 328 m. of altitude and it has a population of about 3,600 inhabitants. The Archpriest Church of San Lorenzo, the Abbey of San Reparata and the Chiesa Cardeto can be admired here.

Marradi, which was originally built on the road going from Faenza to Florence, and its territory were populated by Liguri and Etruscans since the remotest times before the Transalpine Gauls occupied it in a time when they were present in numerous areas of Northern Italy. The Romans drove the Gauls away around the I century B.C. and settled a fortified area on the way between Faenza and Florence. The initial aim of the foundation of the "castrum" was to patrol this important road and the farmed lands nearby. One of the places that rose around the fortress was called "Marrato" meaning "ploughed". Probably, the current name of the town derived from it.
The position of Marradi caused it to enter the State of the Church inside the fascia of land linking Roma with Ravenna after the disgregation of the Western Empire. Numerous sacred places such as the Abbey of Santa Reparata of 1050 approximately, the Abbey of Santa Maria di Crespino, built soon after, and the Hermit of S. Barnaba di Gamogna founded by St. Pier Damiano in 1053 rose in the feudal times. Marradi, which had always been Ghibelline and in favour of the Empire under the aegis of the Counts Guidi, tried to rebel with the protection of Florence in 1258. Yet, only two years later the Guidi took it back after the Guelphs' defeat in Montaperti.
After a period of Florentine dominion exercised by the Manfredi, the town went back in the hands of the Medici in 1428,the year the Renaissance palaces that can still be seen date to. Later, Marradi experienced a period of decline due to the lack of attention on the part of the Florentines, until the Lorraine arrived and the town recovered its ancient pomp. In the XVIII century, the Hospital, the Academy of the Animosi and its homonym theatre were built and the church of San Lorenzo was rebuilt. The development of the Ravenna-Florence railway line gave life to Marradi's economic and industrial growth.