History

Firenzuola is located on the slope of the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines and extends in the Santerno valley. It is one of the largest municipalities of the surviving Tuscan Romagna. The first inhabitants of Firenzuola were the Liguri Magelli and the Umbri.

In the Middle Ages, the Republic of Florence decided to found Firenzuola a strategic point to protect the communication path that united Florence to Bologna. The latter was in the hands of the powerful Ubaldini family, hostile to the Florentine Republic. After many clashes, the Ubaldini family was defeated and their territory was included among the property of the Republic.

It was Giovanni Villani who gave her the current name, which literally means “little Florence”. He proposed as a coat of arms half a lily, symbol of the City of Florence, and half a cross, a symbol of the people.

Firenzuola was built according to a regular structure, with a wall and a fortress with a tower.

In the late Middle Ages, porticoes were built that used to surround all the main axes of the country.

During the Second World War, due to its proximity to the Gothic line, Firenzuola became the center of fights and bombings. Firenzuola was completely destroyed by the allied bombings on September 12, 1944.

To remind the fallen in the territory there are two cemeteries:

Germanic Military (at the foot of the Futa), a monumental work of serene stone of Firenzuola made by the architect Oesterlen, which houses over thirty thousand soldiers from the Wermacht
“Santerno Valley War Cemetery”, near Coniale, which accommodates about 300 bodyies of allies of various origin.

Firenzuola’s reconstruction, in a modern style, began immediately after the end of the war. Even the church of St. John the Baptist, the principal in the country, completely destroyed in the bombing, was rebuilt in a modern style, both in lines and in materials. It was inaugurated in 1966.

In the territory of Firenzuola there is an imposing rocky formation called Sasso di San Zanobi.