Lari

Villages and Hamlets

In ancient times, it was an important location on the road between Pisa and Volterra, an Etruscan city to which Lari remained linked until late antiquity. The origin of the name “Lari” has been traced back to the Etruscan-Roman term “lar”, Lare, the protective deity of rural communication routes, and to the Etruscan name “Lars” (see Lars Porsenna). Various findings made in the Larigiano area confirm an Etruscan origin and an intense activity in Roman times (Etruscan necropolis of S. Ruffino from the 8th-7th century BC, Etruscan sepulchral stone of marble – now in the Castello dei Vicari) – III-II century BC, Etruscan tomb of Casciana Alta, Roman statue of the first century BC of the Castello dei Vicari).

Conquered and fortified by the Lombards, until the 11th century it remained a free rural commune (whose probable coat of arms – with three horizontal blue, white and green stripes with a “natural passing” fox (perhaps a wolf) in the center – was in use until in the seventeenth century), with the people of the community (mostly male peasant owners) also called to choose and vote for the parish priest (still in the eighteenth century popular patronage was practiced).

Coat of arms of Lari in use until the 16th century, with the “natural passing fox”

The inclusion (until the 17th century) of Lari in the diocese of Lucca dates back to the Lombard era (which had chosen Lucca as the capital of Tuscany). Contested between Lucca (municipality and bishop), Pisa (municipality and bishop) and the Republic of Florence, Lari became a cornerstone of the Republic of Pisa, while in the thirteenth century it fell into the hands of the Upezzinghi family (then rebellious in Pisa).

In 1406 he moved to Florence, which had just taken the city of Pisa. Florence elevates Lari to the rank of capital of the Pisan and Livorno hills, hosting the Vicars of the Florentine government (members of the noblest city families: Medici, Pitti, Capponi, Guicciardini, Silvatici and others). The Vicariate of Lari had jurisdiction over a vast territory that extended from Pontedera to Riparbella, from Palaia and Peccioli to Rosignano Marittimo and Livorno. During the first centuries of the Florentine domination the northern hamlets were depopulated, with the Municipality of Perignano now meeting in Lari. Between the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century, Lari was again part of the reborn Republic of Pisa, which however lost its independence definitively in 1509.

With the Habsburg-Lorraine reforms of the nineteenth century and the annexation to Piedmont, Lari gradually lost administrative and judicial importance, while maintaining – until the mid-twentieth century – a certain commercial importance (weekly market and livestock fairs) and agricultural (production of cherries). In the fascist era, the southern hamlets were detached from the municipality of Lari to create the municipality of “Bagni di Casciana”, today Casciana Terme. A referendum held on 6 and 7 October 2013 saw the yes of a proposal from the administrations of Lari and Casciana Terme to give rise to a single municipality starting from 1 January 2014, called Casciana Terme Lari.

Today Lari preserves the imposing structures of the Renaissance fortress, former residence of the Florentine Vicars. The complex, well preserved, is open to the public throughout the year (opening hours on www.castellodilari.it). Overall, there are Etruscan, Roman and Renaissance finds (glazed earthenware of the Della Robbia), medieval and Renaissance frescoes, the “Hall of torments”, prisons, undergrounds called “hell”. The castle, after a few decades of abandonment, in the last 15 years has experienced (thanks above all to youth volunteering) a moment of rebirth and is becoming the main resource of the historic center, attracting tens of thousands of tourists to the capital of the municipality every year. There are many tourists who go to the Castle also to see the places that according to some testimonies would be inhabited by the local ghost, named Rosso della Paola. (from wikipedia.it)