Official tourism site of the municipality of Castiglione della Pescaia
Castiglione della Pescaia during the Medici period
At the start of the 15th century, Castiglione della Pescaia was placed under the protection of Florence and in 1446 was occupied by Alfonso I of Aragon.
Only in 1558 did it become part of the Duchy of Tuscany under Eleonora of Toledo, who gave it as a dowry to Cosimo de’ Medici, having purchased it from Don Indico and Silvia Piccolomini of Aragon, who exercised control of this important military and port outpost on the coast of this part of Maremma.
The Medici family acquired the fiefdom of Castiglione della Pescaia from the Piccolomini, and Cosimo I’s wife, Eleonora di Toledo, signed a lease with the Prince of Piombino “super certa portione Stagni seu Lacu (…) in situ castri Buriani et Abbatie de Fango”, i.e., for what in ancient times was known as Lake Prile and is now the Diaccia Botrona Regional Reserve.
In 1559 they leased the lake and the fishing rights to Eleonora of Toledo, wife of Cosimo I de’ Medici, who thus came into possession of the fief of Castiglione della Pescaia.
Badiola, by then a peninsula due to the flooding of the lake, was already a seasonal settlement for fishermen and, with the operation promoted by the Medici, became a fishing centre of great importance. The construction of a building at the foot of the hill, known as the “casa del ministro”, which is still visible although largely modified, can probably be attributed to the Medici. This building was probably the seat of the tenant administration and a place of residence. Stable buildings, a tavern and all the facilities necessary for the preservation and marketing of the fish were also built.
Castiglione depended directly on the Medici, as a private ducal domain, separate from the State of Florence and Siena and directly dependent on the sovereign.
Palazzo Centurioni still stands within the ancient village walls. It was built in the Renaissance era to house the Florentine mayor and, under the Medici family, became the centre of local administrative life.
The short route across the fortified strongholds and stately palaces, evidence of Medici rule in the municipality of Castiglione della Pescaia, leads to Cecina, where the Duchess Eleonora of Toledo, together with two of her children, died of malaria.
Eleonora is remembered for her dazzling beauty, full of innate majesty, as can be seen from her portraits, including those by the painter Agnolo Bronzino.
