Scarperia - the town of knives
The Borough of Scarperia (Province of Florence)

DISTANCE IN KM: Florence 31 km, Prato 30 km, Bologna 90 km.

HEIGHT: 285 metres above sea level

INHABITANTS: 7,175 (827 in the old hamlet)

PATRON SAINT: Saint Jacob and Saint Philip, the feast day is on the 3 rd of May but is celebrated on the 8 th of September to mark the founding of the town.

TOURIST INFORMATION
Pro Lo Scarperia, tel. 055 8468165, e.mail proloscarperia@katamail.com
Borough of Scarperia, Tourism Office: e.mail sviluppoeconomico@comune.scarperia.fi.it
telefono 055 8431638
fax 055 846509

INTERNET
www.comune.scarperia.fi.it

The spirit of the place

The name
The hamlet was founded with the name of Castel S. Barnaba in a place known as “la Scarperia”, because it was situated at the scarpa (shoe), or foot of the Apennines. It was from here in fact that the difficult ascent began to reach the Giogo pass, steep and difficult, in other words “ria” (hostile).

The blazon
The same as Florence’s, a red lily on a white background

History
1306- after defeating the Ubaldini, the ancient feudal lords of Mugello, on the 18 th of July the Council of One Hundred of the Florentine Republic decided to construct a “new land», Castel S. Barnaba, in the place known as “la Scarperia” on the road to the main Giogo pass connecting Florence and Bologna. On the 7 th of September the streets and city walls were designed before the rural inhabitants gathered together in the new centre which was to be officially founded the following day, with ten year’s of exemption from taxes and levies for all those deciding to build their house there.

1415- Scarperia became the seat of the Vicariate, the representative of the administrative and judicial power of Florence. All the vicars (governors) had their coat-of arms- sculpted or painted in the palace. The Vicariate of Scarperia included the boroughs of Barberino di Mugello, Borgo San Lorenzo, Campi, Carmignano, Dicomano, S. Godenzo, Sesto, Fiesole and Vicchio. Trade thrived in Scarperia thanks to its strategic position along the road to the Giogo pass, leading to Emilia-Romagna and Northern Italy. There were very many hostelries and inns here in the XV and XVI centuries as well as craftsmen’s workshops, especially those forging iron and producing agricultural utensils and knives.

1752- the new Lorena government built the Futa carriageway to improve traffic across the Apennines, thus cutting off Scarperia from the passing trade which had made its fortune. Hostelries, taverns and inns closed down and even for the knife-makers life became difficult. In the first decades of the nineteenth century there were only about 50 left.

1908- the law prohibiting the sale and use of spring-knives longer than the palm of the hand was another blow to the knife-making trade which survived however through alternate vicissitudes until its comeback in recent decades.

Public figures
Scarperia has had three famous citizens. Luigi Fiacchi, known as Clasio (1754-1825), an academic of the Crusca and famous bibliophile and philologist. He was famous mainly for his Favole (Fables) composed in rhyme and dedicated to the sons of the noble families to whom he was tutor. Nicola Lisi (1893-1975) was one of the main activists of the Florentine cultural scene between the wars. A prose-writer who found inspiration in ancient religious works and in the “sacred representations” which merged in his theatrical texts, he achieved his best results in Diario di un parrocco di campagna (1942) (The Diary of a country vicar), of which various editions were printed and which was widely read in the Fifties. Lastly, Margherita Guidacci (1920-1992) an expert in English and French literature, university professor, excellent translator of Eliot, Conrad, Dickinson and, in her own right, a poet. Her verse, essentially religious, has been the focus of attention from the critics for some time and is making a name for itself in the contemporary Italian and international literature scene.

Interesting facts
The founding of Scarperia is connected to a specifically documented historic event. In fact, the Municipality of Florence, in order to build a new fortified settlement in Mugello, had to defeat the powerful feudal lords, the Ubaldini, who owned a well-provided fortress in Monteccianico at the foot of the Tuscan side of the Apennines. The castle was taken and, according to chronicles of the period, razed to the ground. Building anything within its confines was prohibited and salt was sprinkled over the ruins, as the Romans had done in Carthage, so that not even a plant would grown there. Since then the place has no longer been inhabited and today the massive boundary walls peep out through the thick vegetation which has continued to grow over the centuries.

© photograph by Sandro Santioli