24
May 2016
by Tuscany Ride Bike
On a hill that oversees the course of Arno river, halfway between Pisa and Fireze, is located the village of San Miniato. Despite of its size, in the centuries it was a very important town where spent time Popes and Emperors. The area was inhabited in Etruscan and Roman times but the town was founded in the Middle Ages thanks to the work of a group of 16 Lombards who settled here and built a church dedicated to Saint Miniato.
Its strategic position, to control the river, main roads and especially equidistant from main tuscan cities, was very appreciated by the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire because Tuscany, in Middleage, was the land of Communes (free towns), and often these weren’t loyal to the Empire. The Emperor Ottone I fortified the town building city walls and from that moment it became the seat of the Vicar (the imperial delegate), and for a long time it was called "San Miniato al Tedesco". Many emperors came there as Federico Barbarossa, and the grandson Federico II of Svevia, one of the most fascinating and controversial personalities of Middleage, so that he was called "Stupor Mundi" (means: wonder of the world), who built a fortress, where according to legend died Pier delleVigne, one of the main characters in Dante's “Inferno”. The village received not only emperors but also three Popes and even a Saint, Francesco of Assisi. At San Miniato, according to tradition, was born Matilda of Canossa, one of the most important women in the Middle Ages, able to let come to terms the Pope and the Emperor in the famous meeting at Canossa. With the end of the Svevia’s dynasty and the weakening of imperial power in Tuscany, the village became free in alliance with Pisa but then was conquered by Firenze. After that, relationship between San Miniato with emperors didn’t end up in Middleage: at the end of 1700 came to visit this village a young general whose family originally came from here and he went only to meet the last relative remained. He was Napoleone Bonaparte, who became Emperor of France after campaign of Italy. Severely bombed during the Second World War, the village was renovated and is now a charming place to visit! Tuscany Ride a Bike organizes tours of Tuscany Classic to visit San Miniato...what are you waiting to discover with us the village of emperors?
Its strategic position, to control the river, main roads and especially equidistant from main tuscan cities, was very appreciated by the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire because Tuscany, in Middleage, was the land of Communes (free towns), and often these weren’t loyal to the Empire. The Emperor Ottone I fortified the town building city walls and from that moment it became the seat of the Vicar (the imperial delegate), and for a long time it was called "San Miniato al Tedesco". Many emperors came there as Federico Barbarossa, and the grandson Federico II of Svevia, one of the most fascinating and controversial personalities of Middleage, so that he was called "Stupor Mundi" (means: wonder of the world), who built a fortress, where according to legend died Pier delleVigne, one of the main characters in Dante's “Inferno”. The village received not only emperors but also three Popes and even a Saint, Francesco of Assisi. At San Miniato, according to tradition, was born Matilda of Canossa, one of the most important women in the Middle Ages, able to let come to terms the Pope and the Emperor in the famous meeting at Canossa. With the end of the Svevia’s dynasty and the weakening of imperial power in Tuscany, the village became free in alliance with Pisa but then was conquered by Firenze. After that, relationship between San Miniato with emperors didn’t end up in Middleage: at the end of 1700 came to visit this village a young general whose family originally came from here and he went only to meet the last relative remained. He was Napoleone Bonaparte, who became Emperor of France after campaign of Italy. Severely bombed during the Second World War, the village was renovated and is now a charming place to visit! Tuscany Ride a Bike organizes tours of Tuscany Classic to visit San Miniato...what are you waiting to discover with us the village of emperors?