Fiesole

Fiesole
Comune
Città di Fiesole

The Roman theatre of Fiesole is still used.

Coat of arms
Fiesole

Location of Fiesole in Italy

Coordinates: 43°48′26″N 11°17′31″E / 43.80722°N 11.29194°E / 43.80722; 11.29194
Country Italy
Region Tuscany
Province Florence (FI)
Frazioni Anchetta, Caldine, Compiobbi, Ellera, Girone, Pian del Mugnone, Pian di San Bartolo, San Domenico
Government
  Mayor Anna Ravoni
Area
  Total 42 km2 (16 sq mi)
Elevation 295 m (968 ft)
Population (31 December 2014)
  Total 14,075
  Density 340/km2 (870/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Fiesolani
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
  Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code 50014
Dialing code 055
Patron saint St. Romulus
Saint day July 6
Website Official website
The cathedral of Fiesole.
Arches near the Roman theatre.
San Francesco monastery

Fiesole (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfjɛːzole]) is a town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Florence in the Italian region of Tuscany, on a scenic height above Florence, 8 kilometres (5 mi) northeast of that city. As of 2014, its population was c. 14,100.

History

Florence as seen from Fiesole.

Fiesole (Etruscan Viesul, Viśl, Vipsul) was probably founded in the 9th-8th century BC, as it was an important member of the Etruscan confederacy, as may be seen from the remains of its ancient walls.

The first recorded mention on the town dates to 283 BC, when the town, then known as Faesulae, was conquered by the Romans. In pagan antiquity it was the seat of a famous school of augurs, and every year twelve young men were sent thither from Rome to study the art of divination. Sulla colonized it with veterans, who afterwards, under the leadership of Gaius Mallius, supported the cause of Catilina.[1][2]

Fiesole was the scene of Stilicho's great victory over the Germanic hordes of the Vandals and Suebi under Radagaisus in 406.[3] During the Gothic War (536-53) the town was several times besieged. In 539 Justinus, the Byzantine general, captured it and razed its fortifications.

It was an independent town for several centuries in the early Middle Ages, no less powerful than Florence in the valley below, and many wars arose between them; in 1010 and 1025 Fiesole was sacked by the Florentines, before it was conquered by Florence in 1125, and its leading families obliged to take up their residence in Florence. Dante reflects this rivalry in his Divine Comedy by referring to "the beasts of Fiesole." (Inferno XV.73).[4]

By the 14th century, rich Florentines had countryside villas in Fiesole, and one of them is the setting of the frame narrative of the Decameron. Boccaccio's poem Il Ninfale fiesolano is a mythological account of the origins of the community.[5] Robert Browning mentions “sober pleasant Fiesole” several times in his poem "Andrea Del Sarto".

Main sights

In the neighbourhood are:

Famous residents

See also

Notes

  1. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, William Smith, Editor.
  2. Gaius Mallius was a colonist of Fiesole who, according to Sallust (Bellum Catilinae 24.2), was the first to raise an army and take the field against Rome. His nomen is often confused with the more common Manlius.
  3. Radagaisus was executed 23 August 406 (Herwig Wolfram, Thomas J. Dunlap, tr., History of the Goths, 1988:169); Paulinus of Nola attributed the victory of Stilicho over Radagaisus's Ostrogoths near Fiesole, to the protection of Felix, Peter, Paul and other saints.
  4. Dante in Love, A.N. Wilson, p. 71 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: 2011)
  5. Nocita, Teresa. "Giovanni Boccaccio: Tuscan mythologies". In Italo Pantani. Pathways through Literature. Internet Culturale. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  6. Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, New York City: The Bodeley Head, Reprint: London: Penguin Classic, 2001, p. 96

References

External links

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