History of Pietrasanta

History of Pietrasanta

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The Romans took possession of the area starting from the nearby Lucca (already a Roman colony in 180 BC). and Luni, until 570, the Lombards did not occupy the territory of Lucca. Did they become masters of the so-called "fundi", Romans, grouped together in the so-called 'masses' (or 'massariciae'), which in turn are at the origin of the local place names: Massarosa (from Massa Grausi), Massaciuccoli (from Massa Cuccoli) for example. Sala Versiliae was the name of the fortress that you can still see today in Pietrasanta; the name "Sala" derives from the name of a villa of Roman origin, then transformed into a fortified castle.

Before this period we cannot speak of a true and proper history of Pietrasanta as today known. Everything starts from the fortification built in the Middle Ages and in particular from 1255, when a Milanese nobleman appears, a certain Guiscardo Pietrasanta, whose family, of Guelph faction, had participated in the struggles against Frederick II. He was podestà in Genoa in 1252, in Florence in 1254 and Lucca (1263-1264) and also Rector of the Patrimony of St. Peter in Tuscia under the pontificate of Urban IV. It was precisely this latter task that cost him his life, while he was intent on reconstructing the dominions of the Church. The Lucchese rulers in this period, pursued an aggressive policy, fighting with the fiefdoms of the surroundings, subjugating the local noblemen and the protectorate neighbors of Versilia. The Corvaia and Vallecchia families, two important local seigniories, were, for example, expelled after various vicissitudes and forced to swear loyalty to Lucca.

In the following centuries, the inhabited centre grew progressively at the foot of the castle, on a rectangular plan and with defensive walls to protect the entrance to the city. In Tuscany, this of Pietrasanta, is often referred to as the first example of planned urban planning, probably influenced by the importance of the nearby port of Motrone (a vanished port located at the mouth of the river Versilia). In this port, ships called to and from Marseille, Genoa, Portovenere, Piombino, Rome and Gaeta. In addition to being a technical port of call, the port of Motrone was strategic in Pietrasanta, just over 3 km from the port, was the crossroads of maritime transport of Lucca and also Prato and Florence.

Dopo un breve periodo controllato dai francesi di Carlo VIII, Pietrasanta passò nuovamente ai lucchesi, fino al lodo papale di Leone X (de' Medici) che la consegnò definitivamente a Firenze nel 1513. Pietrasanta divenne quindi parte del cosiddetto Capitanato fiorentino, ottenendo buoni risultati economici e prosperità in generale. La città conobbe anche un periodo di florida crescita culturale, come d'altronde avvenne in tutta la Toscana  nel Rinascimento.

The walls were then further strengthened with the arrival of Castruccio Castracani, who was lord of Lucca from 1316 to 1328. The buildings of the' Ghibelline fortress' (formerly the fortress of Sala), the Cathedral of Pietrasanta, the Convent of Sant'Agostino and Palazzo Pretorio belong to the period. Given its importance, the territory became the object of a growing dispute between Pisa, Genoese (which in pledge took Pietrasanta for 150,000 gold dukedom) and Lucca. The Genoese took control for half a century and then became the turn of the Florentines in 1484.

After a short period controlled by the French of Charles VIII, Pietrasanta passed again to the people of Lucca, until the papal praise of Leone X (de' Medici) who definitively handed it over to Florence in 1513. Pietrasanta became therefore part of the so-called Florentine Captainate, obtaining good economic results and prosperity in general. The city also experienced a period of flourishing cultural growth, as happened throughout Tuscany in the Renaissance.

The city grew again, the defensive walls were enlarged and strengthened. The economic activities (such as the extraction and processing of iron, the opening of marble quarries and the reclamation of unhealthy territories) developed thanks to the government of Cosimo I de' Medici. This was the period of maximum splendor in sculptural art and the great Michelangelo Buonarroti went right in Versilia to choose the most precious marbles for his sculptures. Michelangelo stayed in Pietrasanta, between 1516 and 1519, a period in which the marble was extracted for the construction of the façade of the church of San Lorenzo in Florence, as desired by Pope Leo X. According to some more recent studies, Michelangelo's project of the bell tower of the Cathedral of Pietrasanta could be Michelangelo's own, famous for the original self-supporting spiral-shaped staircase, always attributed to the Florentine architect and sculptor Donato Benti (who was the director of the works during the period). From this distant past onwards, Pietrasanta became known all over the world for marble processing, becoming a crossroads of established sculptors and emerging artists.

Around the seventeenth century, with the diminishing power of the Medici, Pietrasanta lived a period of economic and urban crisis, recovering only in the eighteenth century with the establishment of the Grand Duchy of Leopold of Lorraine. Leopold was an enlightened sovereign and put in place a valid agricultural policy, accompanied by reforms of trade, public administration, justice, ecclesiastical administration (elimination of convents, abolition of the constraints of tampering). Pietrasanta was reinvigorated by the tax and customs concessions granted, and urban construction developed further in the city.

At the end of the eighteenth century Versilia became part of the French Empire as a territory forming part of the Kingdom of Etruria. The old systems were restored only after the fall of the Napoleonic Empire. Ironworking and marble extraction were reactivated, with great ferment of local craftsmen, a new economic and cultural development.

When the First World War broke out, the mines were nationalized, passing under the direct control of Edison, which managed them until 1945. It is interesting to note that the father of noble price Giosuè Carducci (originally from Valdicastello di Pietrasanta) was the mining doctor.

Da allora Pietrasanta ha mantenuto il suo fascino antico, ha valorizzato la lavorazione del marmo ed è diventata la città degli artisti, con laboratori artigiani e tanti ospiti scultori provenienti da tutto il mondo. Tra questi hanno legato il proprio nome alla città Igor Mitoraj, Jean Michel Folon, Fernando Botero, Pietro Cascella, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Joan Mirò, trasformando Pietrasanta in un grande museo all'aperto. Per gli amanti della scultura imperdibile una visita al Museo dei Bozzetti.

Tra i personaggi illustri locali, il poeta e premio nobel Giosuè Carducci, che nacque a Valdicastello, frazione di Pietrasanta, nel 1835 (nel borgo si trova la casa natale), Eugenio Barsanti, inventore con Felice Matteucci del motore a scoppio (vedi il museo cittadino a lui dedicato),  lo scultore Stagio Stagi (1479-1561), lo storico e scultore Vincenzo Santini (1807-1876). Hanno soggiornato a Pietrasanta Gabriele D’Annunzio, lo scultore polacco Igor Mitoraj, lo scultore colombiano Fernando Botero, Henry Moore e gli artisti Cascella, Kan Yasuda, Thimer.

Since then Pietrasanta has maintained its ancient charm, has enhanced marble processing and has become the city of artists, with workshops and many artisans and sculptors guests from all over the world. Among these, Igor Mitoraj, Jean Michel Folon, Fernando Botero, Pietro Cascella, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Joan Mirò, have linked their name to the city, transforming Pietrasanta into a large open-air museum. For lovers of sculpture not to be missed a visit to the Museum of Sketches.
 

Among the local illustrious figures, the poet and prize nobel Giosuè Carducci, who was born in Valdicastello, a hamlet of Pietrasanta, in 1835 (in the hamlet there is the birthplace), Eugenio Barsanti, inventor with Felice Matteucci of the internal combustion engine (see the city museum dedicated to him), the sculptor Stagio Stagi (1479-1561), the historian and sculptor Vincenzo Santini (1807-1876). They stayed in Pietrasanta Gabriele D'Annunzio, the Polish sculptor Igor Mitoraj, the Colombian sculptor Fernando Botero, Henry Moore and the artists Cascella, Kan Yasuda, Thimer.

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