The Co-cathedral of SS. Marziale and Alberto in Colle Val d'Elsa

The Age of the Great Wars

The new commune of Colle thus found itself in the middle between the two powerful republics of Siena and Florence, which were contending the economic and political supremacy over Tuscany.  Colle allied itself from the beginning with Florence and received significant advantages in return, above all economic growth and military protection. Florence contributed to the construction of the three sets of city walls that protected the hamlet of Santa Caterina, the castle, and on the plain, the hamlet of San Iacopo. The struggle between Siena and Florence constantly embroiled Colle; among the most important battles, in which the town fought on the Florentine side, we mention the ruinous defeat at Montaperti in 1260 and the victory in 1269 on the San Marziale plain, recounted by Pia dei Tolomei in Dante’s Divine Comedy.
During the fourteenth century Colle enjoyed a period of prosperity characterized by considerable population growth, which caused the town to expand beyond the ancient walls, towards the plain below. Schools and pilgrim hostels were founded, like the “Spedaletto Refugio” located in Gracciano along the Via Francigena and the Ospizio di San Lazzaro near Badia a Spugna.
The fifteenth century was a hard time for Colle. In 1479 Duke Alphonse of Calabria laid a terrible siege to the town, bringing the population to its knees; they were forced to surrender without being able to count on support from Florence, which later acknowledged the valor and courage of the people of Colle and rewarded them with Florentine citizenship and significant fiscal benefits. Moreover, the Florentines commissioned major works to rehabilitate the hamlets, building the Porta Nuova under the direction of Giuliano da Sangallo to replace the destroyed Porta Selva, and rebuilding the town walls and the hamlet of Santa Caterina which had been put to the torch by the people of Colle themselves in an attempt to block the entrance of the Duke’s troops into the central castle.