Montepulciano tourist information
IThe municipal territory of Montepulciano extends for 165,58 square kilometres on the plain and in the hills which separate the Val di Chiana from the Val d’Orca. Free municipality then Podesta office, it became Seat of Captaincy, with successive modifications and territorial contrasts, above all with the nearby community of Chainciano. Probably inhabited in the Etruscan and Roman eras, the castle of Montepulciano is recorded for the first time as a fortified centre in a document of 715. With the dissipation of the Carolingian order the dominion of the family of Scialenghi and that of the Manenti da Sarteano was affirmed, but already during the XII century the free municipality was developing with their own political and administrative structures, at first allied with Siena. At the beginning of the XIII century however the inhabitants, wanting to contrast the expansionism of Siena and themselves desirous of constructing their own territorial dominion, allied themselves with the Fiorentini. This was the start of the long contest between the two major cities for the possession of Montepulciano, which for three centuries with alternating events, constituted one of the fundamental objectives of the struggle. Defeated the first time in 1208, Siena in 1229 allying itself with the ancient feudal Lords expulsed from Montepulciano, attempted the conquest; with the initial victory over the Fiorentini, and in 1232 razed the wall and towers of the castle. But the fate of conflict soon turned against them and they were forced to pay the necessary amount for the rebuilding of Montepulciano. Re-entered in the Siena orbit with the defeat of the Fiorentini at Montaperti (1260) the castle, after the battle of Benevento, went again under the protection of Firenze and only with the coming to power by the Guelfe in Siena (1287) and the period of relative peace between the two city did Montepulciano start a long period of dependence to Siena, extending until almost the middle of the XIV century. In this year Montepulciano re-enforced the municipal institutions but were also divided internally by the struggles between the districts and power groups: the family Del Pecora assumed particular importance during this period. In 1390 Montepulciano passed under the sovereignty of Firenze who took care of the restoration of the walls and the construction of a new fortress. At the end of the XV century the inhabitants, pushed above all economic reasons, again attempted to get close to Siena; but after a period of encounters and diplomatic treaties the Fiorentini in 1511 reconquered it definitively. In 1561 Montepulciano was raised to Episcopal Seat, then obtained the dignity of City, and in that year also drew up a new municipal statute; from 1609 to 1637 it became, with all its territory feudal to Cristina di Lorena widow of Ferdinando I, it returned under the direct jurisdiction of the Grand Duchy. Montepulciano rich in Medieval monuments and imposing late Renaissance churches which document the importance of the city in that time, is the birth place of famous people like the humanist Agnolo Ambrogini, called the Poliziano (1454-1494), Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino and Pope Marcello II (Marcello Cervini, 1501-1555).
