Montemurlo

Description

In Canto XVI of Paradiso, Cacciaguida, responding to his great-grandson's question about the families that lived in Florence in his time, recalls how the Conti had not yet been reduced to seeking sustenance in humble activities: "sariesi Montemurlo ancor de' Conti." The place is identified with a castle near Pistoia, which had been an imperial fief of the Conti Guidi, known in Florence as the Conti par excellence. The notes to the canto specify that in 1254 the Conti, no longer able to defend the castle against the Pistoians, sold it for money to the Commune of Florence. From that moment on, the Conti established themselves in the city, in the houses that had belonged to the Ravignani.