The town of Scarperia is in the province of Florence at about 292 m. asl and it has a population of nearly 6,700 inhabitants. It is famous for the Mugello track that is the usually used for Formula 1 tests and for world motorcycle races.

The village was born around the XIII century with the name of Castel San Barnaba in a place known as "la Scarperia". In the ancient dialect, the term "scarperia" meant "at the foot" of a mountain, in this case the Apennines, from where a "ria", namely hostile and difficult, climb leading to the pass of the Giogo started.
The origin of its foundation is linked to the destruction of the castle belonging to the Ubaldini, the local rulers, by the Florentines, who, according to tradition, razed it to the ground to its basement. In 1306, the Republic of Florence defeated the Ubaldini, the ancient feudatories of the Mugello, and the "Consiglio dei Cento" announced the construction of the "terra nuova".
This expression identified Castel San Barnaba, which was raised on the trans-Apennine road that put into communication Florence with Bologna. On the 7th of September, the streets and the walls were drawn. The official foundation of the city took place the following day. The Florentines convinced the peasants to move to the city by proclaiming a ten-year exemption from taxes and from iniquitous taxes for all those who had gone to live there.
In 1415, Scarperia became the siege of the vicar, the representative of the administrative and judicial power of Florence. Therefore, the castle was enlarged. As it was customary at that time, all the vicars deposited their emblems inside the castle.
The Vicariate of Scarperia had the town halls within its jurisdiction: Barberino di Mugello, Borgo San Lorenzo, Campi, Carmignano, Dicomano, San Godenzo, Sesto, Fiesole and Vicchio. Meanwhile, the commercial activity of the city grew thanks to its position on the pass of the Giogo, linking Tuscany with the Emilia region and with northern Italy. Many hotels flourished, many taverns were born and numerous craft shops spread, in particular those for iron manufacture and the production of knives, .
In the XVIII century, the new government of the Lorraine settled in Florence. Numerous investments were made to improve the trans-Apennine road system, but they excluded Scarperia, which suffered from the construction of a new carriageable road built far away from the ancient path. In the first years of the following century, numerous hotels and taverns were closed down. In 1908, a law prohibited the use and trade of clasp knives bigger than a hand's span. This definitively stopped the economy of Scarpiera that recovered its strength only after the Second World War.