History
A brief history
The district of Barberino, with its fascinating history and many legends, lies right in the heart of Tuscany, between Florence and Siena. The many architectural testimonials scattered throughout the territory make it possible to trace its past history.
The town is still characterised by a historic medieval centre set out in an oblong or shaft-shaped form. A main street cuts straight through the length of the town to connect the two entrances, the Siena-Rome Gate and the Florentine Gate. Two other streets run parallel with this main street and meet up with it again near the gates.
This type of urban lay-out is fairly common among the walled towns of the Elsa Valley and has remained basically intact, although the town walls have suffered some mutilations here and there. The two gates still exist, though the Florentine Gate is a modern copy, as well as the defence towers overlooking the Drove river valley. The Siena gate, commonly known as "di sotto" (below), is built in stone. It boasts an elegant Gothic arch, while a small eighteenth-century brick belfry can be seen above the main walls.
Barberino can be found mentioned in a document of 1054 belonging to the Abbey of Passignano as a Fortress or Village situated in the Parish of San Pietro in Bossolo.
However the town really developed as a borough in the first decades of the 13th century after the Florentine destruction of Semifonte in 1202.
The ancient refrain "Florence make way for Semifonte, which is fast becoming a city", soon eached the walls of Florence and brought about an angry and violent reaction. After conquering the town, Florence then proceeded to completely destroy it and forbade any rebuilding on the hill for enturies. Today an identical dome to the Brunelleschi cupola, but five times smaller, rises up on top of what was presumably the hill of Semifonte and stands as a permanent reminder of the tragic event.
By the following century the Barberino was under the rule of Florence, which proceeded to urround it with defensive walls and transformed it into a military garrison. It then became part of the lorentine Republic and a Podesta or Magistrate was installed as governor. The main road that now runs alongside the town to the east once went right through the centre so that merchants and ilgrims naturally had to pass this way, often stopping overnight. This explains the presence of the Pilgrim's Hospice close by the Florentine Gate, commissioned by Taddeo di Cecco, son of the poet and otary Francesco da Barberino in 1365.
Its dominating position on the ridge of the hill, astride the watershed between the Elsa and the Pesa alleys, encouraged the Florentines to fortify the castle against the feudal barons allied with the mpire.
