San Miniato to German

San Miniato (formerly San Miniato al Tedesco) is an Italian town in the province of Pisa.

The historic center of the city is located in a strategic position on a hill halfway between Florence and Pisa so the city was the scene of multiple clashes between the two today's capitals, up to the definitive Florentine conquest.

Seat of a diocese, San Miniato is an important economic and industrial center of the leather area of ??Ponte a Egola, and is famous for its white truffles and wine and oil products.

The original nucleus of the city dates back to the eighth century: a group of Lombards, according to an original document dated 713 and preserved in the Archbishop's Archive in Lucca, settled on this hill and built a church dedicated to the martyr Miniato. Frederick II of Swabia built the fortress in the city and had his vicar for Tuscany reside there. Due to this Germanic origin, the city, of Ghibelline tradition, was called throughout the Middle Ages as San Miniato al Tedesco, a name that remained in use even in the following centuries.

After having signed peace with Florence on 31 December 1370, San Miniato adopted the Florentine calendar to replace the Pisan one and changed its name to San Miniato al Fiorentino, and then simply San Miniato.

In 1622 he obtained the bishopric and therefore the diocese: until then it was in fact part of the diocese of Lucca.

The young Napoleon visited San Miniato twice. The first was to have the certificate of nobility of their own family: the Buonapartes of Ajaccio had in fact distant origins from Samminiatesi; the certificate was necessary for Napoleon to access the French military academy. Later he returned there during the Italian Campaign, visiting the last survivor of the Tuscan branch of the family, the canon Filippo Buonaparte. A plaque affixed to the Buonaparte palace testifies to the meeting that took place there.

The city remained in the Florentine orbit until 1925, when it was ceded to the province of Pisa.

The Second World War left its mark on the city due to the "massacre of the Duomo". A good part of the medieval buildings was also destroyed, including the Rocca di Federico II, promptly rebuilt in the following years.

Map: San Miniato to German