Certosa del Galluzzo - Overview from Le Gore

Galluzzo is part of

quartiere A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the title of (). Formed a ...

3 of the Italian city of

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy, located in the southern extremity of the Florentine commune. It is known for the celebrated

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians (), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its own rule, called th ...

monastery, the Galluzzo or Florence Charterhouse (''Certosa di Firenze'' or ''Certosa del Galluzzo''), which was founded in 1342 by

Niccolò Acciaioli Niccolò Acciaioli or Acciaiuoli (1310 – 8 November 1365) was an Italian noble, a member of the Florence, Florentine banking family of the Acciaioli. He was the grand seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples and count of Melfi, Count of Malta, Ma ...

History

The autonomous commune

Galluzzo was an autonomous commune until 1928, at which point its territory was split: part was assigned to the commune of Florence in accordance with the 2562nd Royal Decree (01/11/1928), which foresaw the expansion of the Florentine administrative territory (together with the fractions of San Felice ad Ema and Cascine del Riccio); the rest was assigned to the newly formed commune of

Scandicci Scandicci () is a ''comune'' (municipality) of c. 50,000 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence. Scandicci borders the following municipalities: Campi Bisenzio, Floren ...

(known as Casellina e Torri until that same date) as the fraction of Giogoli; or to

Bagno a Ripoli Bagno a Ripoli is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italy, Italian region Tuscany, located about southeast of Florence. The International School of Florence has its primary school campus in the comune.

(Grassina). The remainder formed the present commune of

Impruneta Impruneta is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Florence, in the Italian region of Tuscany. The population is about 15,000. Name and production The name Impruneta is derived from ''inprunetis'' meaning "within the pine woods", and ...

. At the time in which the commune was disestablished, it had circa 22,000 inhabitants and was undoubtedly the most populated commune of the Florentine province, after

Prato Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...

and

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

; its communal territory bordered on those of

, Casellina e Torri,

San Casciano in Val di Pesa San Casciano in Val di Pesa is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region Tuscany, located about southwest of Florence. San Casciano in Val di Pesa borders the following municipalities; Greve in Chiant ...

Greve in Chianti Greve in Chianti (the old name was Greve; in 1972 it was renamed Greve in Chianti after the inclusion of that area in the Chianti wine district) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It is lo ...

and

. The commune, which at the time of national unification extended roughly 68 km², had already undergone a previous reduction in 1865, which with the 2412th Royal Decree (26 July 1865) had lost a strip of land between the city walls and Due Strade to the commune of Florence.

The name

Some trace the origin of the curious name (a variation of the word "gallo", cockerel) of the suburb to the Galluzzo or Galluzzi noble family, who were the regional "biadaioli", and whose crest was a golden cockerel in a blue field. Others maintain that the name Galluzzo derives from the old tavern located on the road leading to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

from Florence (

Via Cassia The Via Cassia () was an important Roman road striking out of the Via Flaminia near the Milvian Bridge in the immediate vicinity of Rome and, passing not far from Veii, traversed Etruria. The ''Via Cassia'' passed through Baccanae, Sutrium ...

), whose sign was a cockerel. However, this sign was simply a reproduction of the carving of a cockerel on a milestone on the side of that same road. This latter hypothesis is more likely, given that even the historian Andrea Dei in his "Cronaca Senese" of 1253 states that "a company of armed Sienese and

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

ns performed a quick raid into Florentine territory as far as the Galluzzo stone, and as a token of disrespect cut off the cockerel's head". The late-13th-century suburb of Galluzzo Vecchio ("Old Galluzzo"), which originally must have consisted of a handful of houses and villas scattered between the charterhouse bridge and the church of Saint Lucia of Massapagani, expanded as a group of residential buildings starting from the corner of via Massapagani and via Barni, around a 14th-century church.

Economy

Historically a zone inhabited by artisans and agricultural workers, Galluzzo had relatively few inhabitants until the mid-19th century. As far as the predominant activities are concerned, given its closeness to

, until the 16th century there was a consistent presence of terracotta producers, until more recent times when, in addition to kiln men, cement plants were built. At the beginning of the 20th century there was also a series of other industries which later disappeared, such as a large windmill next to a pasta factory, and a factory where olive oil was extracted by means of carbon sulphate, with which were also produced soaps of various types. The particular lithological composition of the surrounding hills also allowed for the construction of various caves for the extraction and processing of stone, the most important of which were those of Monteripaldi, Poggio ai Grilli and Montebuoni of Montecuccoli. The women of the region had for a long time offered laundry services, given the abundance of running water, in addition to which they also produced straw plaits and braids. Today, the heart of the residential nucleus is Acciaioli Square, in which is erected the monument to victims of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Culture

Galluzzo is cited by

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

in the XVI canto (verses 52–55) of

The Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest wor ...

References