Vicchio in Tuscany

The town of Vicchio is in the province of Florence and it was the hometown of two of the most important protagonists of the Florentine Renaissance, namely Giotto and Beato Angelico. It is set at 203 m of altitude and it has a population of about 7500 inhabitants.

The town of Vicchio is rich in precious works of art, such as the church of San Giovanni Battista, the house of Benvenuto Cellini and the Palazzo Pretorio. Moreover, the church of San Cassiano and of Vespignano, the church of San Martino and Giotto's house can be visited in a hamlet called Palude.
In the ancient times, Vicchio and its surroundings represented an important link between the powerful dominion of Fiesole's Lucumo and the areas occupied by the Etruscans in the Padana Valley. In effect, a vast necropolis has been found in one of Vicchio's territories.
Still around the year 1000, the existence of a built-up area of a certain importance had not been created, yet, and the territory was divided in parishes and castles under the aegis of the Counts Guidi who dominated the fortresses of Rupecanina, Rostolena, Ampinana and Torricella.
In the XIII century, namely at the acme of the communal age, the feudal potentate of the Guidi and of other families clashed against the autonomist ambitions of Florence and of other growing city-states.
In 1295, at the end of the fights between Florentines and feudal aristocracy, the victorious "City of the Lily" ordered the construction of the Montesassi bridge over the Sieve river. Numerous inhabitants of the bordering areas crossed it to create the nucleus of a town on the opposite bank. It took the name of Vico, from where the current toponym developed. In 1308, the town had already been fortified for fear of an attack by the Ubaldini family, but it was with the fortification of 1324 that the town became part of the country under the Florentine rule.
From that moment on, a real development took place. In 1355, the League of Vicchio was born from the union of the territories of Santo Stefano in Botena, San Cresci a Valcava, San Martino in Viminiccio, San Casciano in Palude and Dicomano.
In 1384, Vicchi became a town hall. Meanwhile, the League was extending to more territories, but with the siege carried out by Florence, one part of those areas joined the Spanish troops that obliged both the Republic and Vicchio to surrender. As for an irony of fate, when Vicchio's town hall was suppressed in 1838, the territory was aggregated to Borgo San Lorenzo, namely the town that, in the past, had betrayed the League by flanking the troops of Charles V.
The last centuries in Vicchio have been characterized by catastrophes that have put a strain on the structures and the buildings of the city. The earthquake of 1929, that hit several areas of the Mugello, of the Casentino, of the Val di Sieve and of the Romagna region, and the 1944's bombardments were the worst of all.