Borgo San Lorenzo

Borgo San Lorenzo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about northeast of Florence. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 18,085 and an area of .All demographics and other statistics: Italian statistical institute Istat.

History

The first settlements in the central area of Mugello, later occupied by Borgo San Lorenzo, are certainly very ancient. There are numerous testimonies of the existence of settlements even before the Etruscans, of which we can find traces near Ronta. From the 2nd century BC, the Romans settled here, creating the village of ''Anneianum'', on the road from Florence to Faenza.

The status of the village is obscure in Late Antiquity and the Gothic era. In the Middle Ages, the town belonged to the Ubaldini family until the 10th century AD, when it passed under the civil power of the Florentine bishop, as demonstrated by the existence of an emphyteutic contract dated 941, in which the church of San Lorenzo in Mugello is described as belonging to the Florentine chapter. Given its favourable position as a road junction, controlling a crossing over the Sieve river, Borgo San Lorenzo acquired a certain importance that allowed it to prevail over the entire surrounding area and to become the market town.

The control of the Florentine Bishop was exercised through the Bishop's Vicar, who exercised economic and civil power under the title of Podestà. This power gradually weakened in relation to the economic growth of Borgo, which in the early 13th century affected the whole of Mugello; this is also demonstrated by the use of its own measures in transactions, such as the ''staio'' and the ''mina burgensi''.

As early as 1222, the bishop of Florence had to relinquish total control over the appointment of the jusdicente, reserving it for himself only once every four years and leaving the people a free choice for the other three years. Subsequently, there were further attempts to revolt against the bishop's authority, which in 1239 forced the then Podestà, Ubaldino della Pila, to issue an order prohibiting the building of houses and towers over 15 fathoms high.

The spirit of rebellion was led by the Guelph nobles who, in 1251, had to suffer the assault of the Ghibellines who had escaped from Florence, allied with the Lords of Romagna. Finally, in 1290, the municipality of Florence intervened and, by paying 3000 florins, acquired all the rights over Mugello.

In the following years Borgo San Lorenzo paid for its ties with the Florentine Guelph Republic, suffering attacks from the Ghibellines, as in 1303 when the town was conquered by Scarpetta degli Ordelaffi, a Ghibelline from Forlì; or as in 1312, at the coming of Arrigo VII, when the Ubaldini returned to Borgo. To protect itself from these attacks, and from the threat created by the Visconti of Milan, Florence intervened in 1351 by walling up the town of Borgo San Lorenzo and creating the new lands of Scarperia and Firenzuola.

The appearance of the town was thus regularised by means of a rectangular wall structure, with four gates with towers and a road axis that cut across the whole town lengthwise. Today's Piazza Cavour was the meeting point of the two main streets.

The town was the main centre of a league that brought together all the inhabitants of the area; it was the seat of political power, represented by a Podestà sent every six months from Florence; the men who held all public offices were also Florentine. The fact that each gate had two keys, one held by the Podestà, the other by an appointee every three months, was unusual.

In 1440 Borgo was besieged by Niccolò Piccinino, an ally of the Albizi against the Medici, but was not conquered. Between 1529 and 1530, during the siege of Florence, a mercenary captain took possession of the town and transformed it into an arsenal and shipyard for the construction of devices to be used against Florence. With the fall of the Republic in Florence, Borgo San Lorenzo became part of the Medici principality.

Under the Hapsburg-Lorraine of Tuscany, Borgo San Lorenzo became the main centre of the entire Mugello, thanks to the centrality of its position in the area and the increase in building and agriculture brought about by Grand Ducal policy. In the 19th century the town's role was confirmed with the birth of a good industrial organisation and, towards the end of the century, with the creation of a railway network linking Florence, Faenza and Pontassieve. In 1861 Borgo San Lorenzo was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy by King Vittorio Emanuele II of Savoy.

On the 1st July the 2023 Giro Donne stage 2 passed through the town.

Geography

Borgo San Lorenzo borders the following municipalities: Fiesole, Firenzuola, Marradi, Palazzuolo sul Senio, Pontassieve, Scarperia e San Piero, Vaglia, Vicchio.
It is considered a Zone 2 area according to the Italian Seismic classification following the PCM 3274.

Demographic evolution

Colors=
id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9)
id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8)
id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1)
id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8)

ImageSize = width:455 height:303
PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:18000
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:2000 start:0
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:500 start:0
BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo

BarData=
bar:1861 text:1861
bar:1871 text:1871
bar:1881 text:1881
bar:1901 text:1901
bar:1911 text:1911
bar:1921 text:1921
bar:1931 text:1931
bar:1936 text:1936
bar:1951 text:1951
bar:1961 text:1961
bar:1971 text:1971
bar:1981 text:1981
bar:1991 text:1991
bar:2001 text:2001

PlotData=
color:barra width:20 align:left

bar:1861 from: 0 till:11237
bar:1871 from: 0 till:12289
bar:1881 from: 0 till:12614
bar:1901 from: 0 till:14784
bar:1911 from: 0 till:15579
bar:1921 from: 0 till:16432
bar:1931 from: 0 till:17172
bar:1936 from: 0 till:16805
bar:1951 from: 0 till:16535
bar:1961 from: 0 till:14498
bar:1971 from: 0 till:14199
bar:1981 from: 0 till:14685
bar:1991 from: 0 till:15285
bar:2001 from: 0 till:15825

PlotData=

bar:1861 at:11237 fontsize:XS text: 11237 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1871 at:12289 fontsize:XS text: 12289 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1881 at:12614 fontsize:XS text: 12614 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1901 at:14784 fontsize:XS text: 14784 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1911 at:15579 fontsize:XS text: 15579 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1921 at:16432 fontsize:XS text: 16432 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1931 at:17172 fontsize:XS text: 17172 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1936 at:16805 fontsize:XS text: 16805 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1951 at:16535 fontsize:XS text: 16535 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1961 at:14498 fontsize:XS text: 14498 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1971 at:14199 fontsize:XS text: 14199 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1981 at:14685 fontsize:XS text: 14685 shift:(-8,5)
bar:1991 at:15285 fontsize:XS text: 15285 shift:(-8,5)
bar:2001 at:15825 fontsize:XS text: 15825 shift:(-8,5)

TextData=
fontsize:S pos:(20,20)
text:Data from ISTAT

Transportation

Access to the city of Borgo San Lorenzo includes a Trenitalia local rail service from Florence and Faenza.

References

External links

www.comune.borgo-san-lorenzo.fi.it/

{{authority control

Cities and towns in Tuscany