Pistoia

In 1401 Pistoia lost its independence forever and became an integral part of the Fiorentine dominions. On September 10 of that year, after a true military incursion, some Florentine soldiers succeeded in gaining the City Hall; Florence put their own governor in office, thus wresting from Pistoia control over a large part of its surrounding lands. Even the diocese was subordinated to the one in Florence so that, from this moment on, the city's bishops would come mostly from the Tuscan capital. For the whole Medici era (fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) Pistoia did not make its own history although it was a key player in several noteworthy episodes. During the first half of the 1500s there was a continual flaring up of fighting between the factions led by the noble Cancellieri and Panciatichi families. It was this struggle to attain the few important political positions available that brought Machiavelli to the city in an attempt to shed light on these violent incidents. He convinced Florence to increase its power over Pistoia, thus undercutting any appearance of local autonomy. In the following years, the city prospered, as can be seen in the many noble buildings that even today enhance the streets. Peace was maintained until 1643 when the Papal troops surrounded and besieged the city. The townspeople showed great courage in their resistance . In the sarne century Pistoia witnessed the ascendancy to the Papai throne of a representative of the clty aristocracy: Cardinai Giulio Rospigliosi who took the name of Clemente IX. During the first half of the 1700s when the Grand Duke Giangascone, the last descendent of the Medici, died Tuscany passed under the rule of the Lorena family. Especially under the enlightened Pietro Leopoldo, Pistoia enjoyed a prosperous period. The modernization of the trans-Appenine roadways, with the road to Modena, restored to the city its central role in free trade with the North which had once been its oldest and primary activity. At the end of the nineteenth century, all of Europe's attention turned to Pistoia for the diocesan synod summoned, in agreement with the Grand Duke, by Bishop Scipione de' Ricci, well-known for his Jansenist ideas of radical church reform. The people of Pistoia, just like Pope Pius VI, did not know what to make of this high prelate's innovative ideas and he was forced to leave the city a few years later. At the end of the century Pistoia was occupied by French troops led by the young general Napoleon. The next year all of Tuscany was under French control. During Napoleonic rule Pistoia was included in the Area of the Arno and became a municipality governed by a French maire. With the Congress of Vienna and the restoration in Tuscany, the Lorenas returned and took up the program of reform initiated by Pietro Leopoldo. In 1851 the Maria Antonia railway arrived in Pistoia from Florence and in 1864, after the Unification of Italy, the Porrettana railway was completed. Pistoia participated in the Risorgimento not only with the sacrifice of Attilio Frosini, Sergio Sacconi and Torello Biagioni, killed by the Austrians - not to mention the many others who fought for independence - but also through the philanthropy and art patronage of Niccolò Puccini. In 1848 the Grand Duke named Pistoia capital of a cornpartment and it was given a prefecture; just three years later it was degraded - as a punishment, it is said, for the city's pro-unification stance - to the level of sub-prefecture. From 1849 to 1855 the city was occupied by the Austrian troops that had been called to assist the Lorenas. In 1860 the citizens of Pistoia voted to join the kingdom of ltaly. Between the nineteenth and twentieth centuties Pistoia began to take on a more modern appearance as it underwent the process of industrialization; the San Giorgio company from Genoa built a factory here for the budding automobile industry. The city also promoted urban development even though the surrounding countryside remained prevalently agricultural. With the abolition of the city toll gates in 1909, the city walls lost all their significance and they were partially torn down Later, whole medieval sections would be demolished as a large part of the city changed its appearance. During the Fascist period Pistoia was promoted to a provincial capital. During the Second World War, the city was a center of strong anti-German resistance and, especially in the countryside, the consequences of the harsh retaliations were badly felt. When the Partisans freed Pistoia on September 8, 1944 they found a very badly damaged city. With the reconstruction Pistoia has been transformed and today it is an important center for commerce and industry, linked to the Fiorentine metropolitan area and characterized by, among other things, a particular vocation for tree and plant producing nurseries.

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