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| Lucca
was built in an unsettled age on an isle shaped by the
old river Auser (renamed Serchio) in the middle of a
wide marsh resort at the border between Ligurian and
Etruscan lands. The place-name "Lucca" originates
from the Celtic-Ligurian stem "luk" (that is
swampy ground), which describes the characteristics of
the land, where the town raised. The uneven flow of the
river Auser caused a lot of problems to the town,
which was exposed to periodic floods. |
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Thanks
to the deviation of the river towards Ripafratta and
the sea, which was made by bishop Frediano (died in 588
A.D.), the situation was clearly improved. This intervention
allowed also the reclamation of the resort in the High
Middle Ages.
Although it is impossible to establish for sure the date of its foundation, we
know that the oldest finds date back to a period going from 6th to 2nd century
b. C. and bear witness to the presence of both Ligurian and Etruscan people.
The oldest well-grounded data is handed down to us by the Roman historian Tito
Livio, who wrote, that in 218 b. C. the Roman consul Sempronio Longo, repelled
by Hannibal, fell back in Lucca, which in 180 b. C. became a Latin colony and
a century later (in 89 b. C.) a municipium. |
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In 56 b. C. Lucca was chosen by Caesar,
Pompey and Crasso as the seat of the meeting for the foundation
of the first Triumvirate. During the whole imperial age Lucca
was less important than Luni and the nearby Pisa, to which
the town was at the beginning linked. Only after the fall of
the Western Roman Empire (476 A. D.) and during the occupation
of Goths and Byzantines (552 A. D.), Lucca was able to increase
its importance and there are documents that bear witness also
of the foundation of a mint. After the invasion of the Lombards
(570 A. D.), who freed the town from the rule of Byzantines,
Lucca became an administration and judicial centre, which was
subjected to the orders given by the dux.
This period decreed the political, religious (the Lombards
converted the
inhabitants of Lucca to Christianity) and economic recovery (thanks to the
Via Francigena-Romea). Besides this we know very little of the first years
of the new domination. It is sure that the Lombards took the place of the
rich landowners, founding a new form of land aristocracy. |
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The small landowners had to contribute
to local economy giving part of their crops and the common
goods and the goods of the national revenue were confiscated
by the Crown. In the neighbouring countryside, besides
the royal and Lombards properties,
a wide land estate of the Church stretched and expanded most of all under
the line of the Lombard bishops from the 8th century on.
In the 9th century Lucca was conquered by the Franks, who founded the Marquisate
of Tuscany turning Lucca into their town residence. |
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| It's during this period that the
new city self-governments began to assert themselves
and arose the first conflicts with Pisa. This city was
increasing its defence and military importance as naval
power and the relations with the nearby towns became
harsher. In those years in Lucca as well as in other
Italian cities, arose the conflict between the Church
and the Empire. The strong opposition of Countess Matilde
of Canossa against bishop Anselmo da Baggio (nephew of
Pope Alexander II) marked the birth of a very good relationship
between the town and the Empire, which fostered the establishment
of the first self-government forms. After the signing
of a peace treaty, Lucca obtained from Barbarossa the
acknowledgment of its rights. As a result of the new
imperial regulations, Lucca abandoned the Ghibelline
party to join the league of Guelphs (known as "Diet
of S. Genesius", set up in November 1197). |
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| At the beginning the direction
of the Comune (the municipality) remained under
the control of consular families but the growth
of the surrounding countryside and the economic
development led to an instability in the power's
structure. This situation didn't go on for a long
time: after the purchase of the feud of Garfagnana
(1248) and the split of Guelphs, who governed since
1266, the statutes, enacted in 1308, established
a new institutional set-up of the city, where the
urban area, the district of "Sei miglia" around
the city walls and the countryside (which was divided
into twelve vicarships) were separated. |
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Lucca, that was going through a
very flourishing period thanks to its economy, lost its
independence in 1314, falling in the hands of the signore
(the ruler) of Pisa, Uguccione della Faggiola. Six years
later, taking advantage of the circumstances, Castruccio
Castracani of the Antelminelli family freed Lucca and
was elected first captain general and protector of the
town and then, after the conquests, duke of Lucca, Pisa,
Pistoia, Luni and Volterra. Struck down by malaria, Castruccio
Castracani left "his" Lucca without defence
and it lost again its independence, being conquered by
Pisa (1342). Charles IV of Bohemia freed again Lucca
and redefined its government autonomy. The city was strengthened
by this provision and withstood also a conquest's attempt
by the signoria of Paolo Guinigi, which ended up into
the restoration of the previous government. When Lucca
lost Garfagnana and the Italian wars ended, after a short
period of neutrality, the town entered into an alliance
with Charles V (1522); in the same year it was forced
to bear the conspiracy of Family Poggi, the revolt of
the beggars (1531-1532) and a religious crisis (ended
in 1556). Lucca was going through a gloomy period.
In 1549 Francesco Burlamacchi died in the attempt of setting up a regional confederation
to free the territory from the domination of the Medici. In those years the merchants
opposed the restrictions on the export of local products by investing considerable
capitals into the construction of villas and into the improvement of the neighbouring
lands.
With the reform proposed by the gonfalonier Martino Bernardini in 1556, the admittance
to public offices was restricted to the inhabitants of Lucca and only the people,
who were born inside the city walls could get the right of citizenship. The restrictions
became even more prominent with the institution of the "Libro d'oro" (1628),
a book, in which the names of the aristocratic family, among which the rulers
had to be chosen, were collected. The works for the construction of the city
walls, as symbol of the freedom for which Spain and the Empire vouched, started
during this period. In 1799 Lucca was conquered by the French and the Republic
collapsed. At the end of the second republic, which lasted till 1805, Lucca became
the principality of Elisa Bonaparte (who wasted a lot of public funds, looking
after business and social welfare activities) and Felice Baciocchi thanks to
Napoleon. When the Empire of Napoleon fell, after a short Austrian regency, the
town was ruled by the Duchess Maria Luisa di Borbone, according to the provisions
of the congress of Vienna, and then by her son Carlo Ludovico, who appointed
the two very clever statesmen Ascanio Mansi and Antonio Mazzarosa as members
of his government.
In 1847 Carlo Ludovico decided to cede the town to the Granducato di Toscana
(at that time there was the rule of a grand duke in Tuscany) by means of a reversion
treaty, which was already ratified by the congress of Vienna and became enforceable
beforehand. |
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