Sarzana

Infobox CityIT
img_coa = Sarzana-Stemma.png official_name = Comune di Sarzana
name = Sarzana
region = Liguria
province = La Spezia (SP)
elevation_m = 21
area_total_km2 = 34
population_as_of = December 31, 2004
population_total = 20180
population_density_km2 =593
timezone = CET, UTC+1
coordinates = coord|44|07|N|09|58|E
mapx=44.108
mapy=9.964
frazioni = Marinella di Sarzana, Falcinello, Sarzanello, San Lazzaro
telephone = 0187
postalcode = 19038
gentilic = Sarzanesi
saint = St. Andrew
day = November 30
mayor = Massimo Caleo (from April 5, 2004)
website = [http://www.comune.sarzana.org www.comune.sarzana.org]

Sarzana is a town and comune in the Province of La Spezia, of Liguria, Italy, 15 km east of Spezia, on the railway to Pisa, at the point where the railway to Parma diverges to the north. In 2004 it had a population of 20,180. Sarzana has one of the most important glass-bottle factories in Italy. There are also brick-works and a fuel factory.

History

The position of Sarzana at the entrance to the valley of the Magra (ancient "Macra"), the boundary between Etruria and Liguria in Roman times, gave it military importance in the Middle Ages. The first mention of the city is found in 983 in a diplom of Otto I: in 1202 the episcopal see was transferred from the ancient Luni, 5 km southeast, to Sarzana.

Sarzana, owing to its position, changed masters more than once, belonging first to Pisa, then to Florence, then to the Banco di S. Giorgio of Genoa and from 1572 to Genoa itself.

In 1814 it was assigned to the Kingdom of Sardinia, the frontier between Liguria and Tuscany being now made to run between it and Carrara.

Sarzana was the birthplace of Pope Nicholas V in 1397.

A branch of the Cadolingi di Borgonuovo family, lords of Fucecchio in Tuscany from the 10th century onwards, which had acquired the name of Buonaparte, had settled near Sarzana before 1264. In 1512 a member of the family (Francesco Buonaparte, who died in 1540) permanently took up residence in Ajaccio, becoming the founder of the Corsican line of Buonapartes and hence a direct forebear of Sebastiano Nicola Buonaparte. He in turn was the great-grandfather of the emperor Napoleon I (who was born in Corsica in 1769).

Main sights

*The noteworthy cathedral of white marble in the Gothic style, dating from 1355, was completed in 1474. It contains two elaborately-sculptured altars of the latter period.
*The former citadel, built by the Pisans, was demolished and re-erected by Lorenzo de Medici.
*The Castle of Sarzanello was built by the condottiero Castruccio Castracani, whose tomb by the Pisan Giovanni di Balduccio is in S. Francesco.
*The "Palazzo del Capitano" was designed by Giuliano da Maiano (1472), but is now entirely altered.

Twin cities

*flagicon|France - Villefranche de Rouergue, France
*flagicon|Hungary - Eger, Hungary

References

*1911
* [http://www.cattedraledisarzana.it/ Cathedral of Sarzana]