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The history of this town is full of hand passes between family houses that over the centuries brought to a long series of successes and failures of this city perched on a beautiful hillside of the lower Tuscan Maremma.
In 1410, Capalbio switched to Siena influence by population choice that felt more secure and stable under this leadership (on the door is still visible the inscription: "I am Capalbio made happy and safe from the lion of Siena). From the same age is the development of the city that reaches its climax with the construction of churches inside and outside the walls.
 The Capalbio castle itself, which was part of the donation made by Charlemagne to the Abbey of Tre Fontane and within the areas of Pontifical influence, was usurped by the family Aldobrandeschi (to whom we owe the present walls and the tower) and it was disputed both by the city of Orvieto and by the Republic of Siena. The last one who won it several times first from the Aldobrandeschi and then from the Orsini.
Capalbio remained faithful to the Republic of Siena during the ferocious and endless struggles between France and Spain finely resisting to the Spanish troops. Nevertheless, the defeat of Siena in 1555 left the city of Capalbio to the domain of the Medici, who, despite the granting of full administrative autonomy to the city (year 1594), were forced to agree privileges to the inhabitants to promote repopulation of the city and countryside.
The autonomy, however, was only temporary and with the handover of the city to the Lorraine, Capalbio lost its administrative autonomy entering the orbit Manciano at first and then the Orbetello one. A slow and gradual improvement of the inhabitants conditions was only possible from the nineteenth century with the draining of the area. Thanks especially to the works of the 30s and the agrarian reform of 1952 in favor of small property, Capalbio could finally regain the Town Hall (1960). |
History & Culture