History of Tuscany

 

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, Tuscany lay largely under water. What is now the coastal strip was completely covered, and many inland areas were submerged beneath large lakes. The hills leading down to Lucca and on to Livorno were islands, as was the area around Monte Argentario in the south.

As the lakes receded and river basins were formed, the low-lying silt deposits built up to form what are now the modern day Tuscan plains of Florence, Pisa, Grosseto and Pistoia. The successive ice age saw glaciation in the Tuscan/Emilian Appennines, and it was during this period that several large volcanoes were active in southern Tuscany, an area that even today shows signs of its volcanic past, with large volcanic formations and the hot spas and springs of the Val d'Orcia.

In Prehistoric times man left his mark on many parts of the region; up to the Iron Age there are remnants of small tribal settlements, usually in woodlands near lakes or rivers or in hillside caves and gorges, always located away from the dangers of the swamps and marshlands. These disparate and primitive settlements were to be found in many parts of Tuscany, and it wasn't until the first century BC that the advanced Etruscan civilisation began to change the landscape for ever.

Quite who the Etruscans were is far from clear. The three main theories have it that they came to Italy by sea from the Far East, that they came down from northern Europe, or that they are descended from the so-called 'Pre-Italians' of the Bronze Age. What is clear is that they formed the first consistent civilisation here. Originally settling around the rivers Arno and Tiber, their reach eventually extend as far as Liguria to the north, and down through Umbria and into Lazio to the south. They were superlative road builders, they began to clear swamps and marshlands and were great sea-farers, they produced exquisite art works and jewellery, and their tombs and 'cities of the dead' (necropolis) have survived across the centuries and have told much of what is known today.

The Etruscans were extraordinarily artistic, creative and entrepreneurial, and their trading, farming, mining and general enterprise and organisation led to a relatively stable political and social environment. The towns were self-governing, yet there was a strong sense of national and religious identity. Aside from Greece, no other European civilisation can claim such a longevity, and Etruscan settlements such as Cortona, Arezzo, Fiesole (close to Florence), Chiusi and Volterra are thousands of years old. The demise was relatively swift, with incursions from the Greeks, Gauls and Carthigians, the death knell being sounded by the might of Rome.

The Roman colonisation of Tuscany (the name itself deriving from the Etruscans), the odd problem with Etruscan and Gaul alliances being balanced by the support of Etruscan towns such as Cortona, Arezzo and Perugia (Umbria), was pretty much complete by the beginning of the third century BC. It was not a steam-roller process however, as the Etruscan civilisation and language had a great influence on the conquering Romans; indeed, with time, the Etruscan ruling class came to be absorbed into Roman civilisation. Lucca, Pisa, Siena, Florence and Pistoia were all founded by the Romans.

The fall of the Roman Empire saw a flurry of barbarian invasions, and it wasn't until the Longobard (6th to 8th centuries) dominance and duchy (with Lucca as capital) that things began to settle again. The invasions weren't as bad in Tuscany as they were in other parts of Italy, this fact doubtlessly leading to the relative pre-eminence of Tuscan cities during the Middle Ages.

The struggle between the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire - between Bishops and feudal rulers - also saw the involvement of the wealthy merchants and traders of the major cities. They were either Guelphs (siding with the Pope) or Ghibellines (siding with the Emperor - the most famous Ghibelline being Frederick Barbarossa), but whatever their allegiance, these key figures became increasingly wealthy and independent. This trend was the starting point for the formation of the Tuscan Communes, with their impressive craftsmanship and trading prowess that rapidly led to great wealth and influence.

The early life of these communes was one of great unrest and conflict. Tuscany was changing rapidly, feudality yielding strength to these increasingly important town authorities, and there were many 'strike and parry' wars between the major players (Pisa against Lucca, Florence against Fiesole, Siena against Arezzo). Simultaneously, the great wealth amassed flowed into patronage of the arts and cultural life, indelibly marking Tuscany with the character that is still visible today in the region's cities, people and landscape.

Until the late thirteenth century, leaving aside the odd territory war, a semblance of order held, with the communes of Florence, Siena, Pisa and Lucca shuffling the balance of power around. Pisa, being the principal port, held the crown for a while; Siena out-played Florence in banking and forged key financial links to France and England; Lucca grew wealthy on silk and banking; ultimately, however, Florence came to rule the roost.

Emerging as a truly capitalist city, grown wealthy on commerce, particularly in the textile trade, Florence also began to dominate on a cultural and artistic level - the age of Dante, and the pulling back of the curtain on the Renaissance. The Middle Ages were over, a new era was beginning, and in it were sown the seeds of the Italian nation. Florence, dominating all, was writing the history for the whole Tuscan region. Freed from clerical tyranny and feudal dominion, Florence and Tuscany became a crucible of ideas and inventions; the rigid strictures of the past had gone, language became free and clear, and cultural transformations were achieved in a way not possible at any other place on the world at that time.

Having defeated Pisa, with Lucca and Siena surviving as republics, and having won other struggles, many internal, Florence confirmed itself, during the 15th and 16th centuries, as the unifying force within Tuscany. That position was further underpinned by the support of key European families and monarchies - it was they who assisted in the rise of that most famous native dynasty, the Medici, then a family of middle class Florentine bankers.
During the 15th century, the Medici clan became ever more powerful, eventually transforming the Commune of Florence into a principality. Cosimo I, courtesy of energetic and oft time harsh policies, laid the foundations of the Tuscan state, and, in 1570, was titled Grand Duke of Tuscany by Pope Pius the 5th. The paternal patronage of the Medici allowed an incredible blossoming of intellect and culture in Florence, the undoubted epicentre of the Renaissance throughout the 15th and 16th centuries. The roll-call says it all: Brunelleschi, Donatello, Alberti, Ghiberti, Masaccio, Botticelli, Piero della Francesca and Leonardo da Vinci.

Tuscany enjoyed two centuries of relative stability and continuity, allowing a trauma-free transition from mediaeval feudality to the modern age. The Medici dynasty ended in 1737, and the next milestone was the passing of the Grand Duchy into the hands of the House of Lorraine, hand in hand with the coming of the Enlightenment. Under Napoleonic reforms, Florence became the capital of the 'Kingdom of Etruria', gifted by Napoleon to Bourbons from Parma. Tuscany, divided into three districts, was then officially annexed to the French Empire, only to then be reunited into a Grand Duchy and given by Napoleon to his sister, Elisa Baciocchi.

Tuscany entered into a united Italy in 1860, with Florence immediately establishing itself as a vital centre of an undivided nation - it went on to be the temporary capital of Italy from 1865 to 1870, and, in 1861, hosted the first Italian exhibition of industry and manufacturing. The dawning of the 20th century saw much activity and unrest in Tuscany. There was explosive population growth hand in hand with greater urbanisation, and many of the social problems that had been dampened by centuries of paternalistic regimes began to ferment. The old landowners and the new industrialists adopted an increasingly hard line in the face of this unrest, and this favoured the rise of Fascism. Tuscany submitted to Fascist dictatorship in 1922, not without much violence, protest and skulduggery.

Tuscany was particularly hard hit during the Second World War; the front line was at one time formed by the Arno river, and later there was the so-called Gothic Line. Florence, Pisa and Livorno were very badly damaged by intensive bombing, and the region took a very active role in the Resistance, as it did with the vigorous post-war reconstruction.

We'll pretty much leave it there. Tuscany has grown wealthy on agriculture, small to medium sized businesses, and, increasingly, tourism, and the fruits of such a rich and passionate artistic and cultural history are there for all to enjoy.