Montalcino is mentioned for the first time in a document of AD 814 in which Charlemagne’s son Louis the Pious granted this territory as a feudal domain to Apollinare, abbot of Sant’Antimo. One of the names used to refer to Montalcino in its earliest times is Mons Ilcinus, which means “mount of the ilexes,” because of the trees that originally covered the hill before human settlers planted grapevines and olive, chestnut, and fruit trees there; the ilex tree remains the town’s emblem on its coat of arms. In the tenth century, probably as a result of barbarian invasions from the north, a real wave of migration from neighboring areas converged on the highest part of the Montalcino hill to settle there permanently. The first cores of settlement arose then, around the church of Sant’Angelo in Castelvecchio, which was later replaced in the thirteenth century by the church of San Francesco with its adjacent convent; Sant’Egidio, dating to the eleventh century and destroyed in the 1300s to build the fort; and the Pieve (baptismal church) of Santissimo Salvatore, built around the year 1000 and destined to become the cathedral. In 1100, walls were built around the town, more than 4 kilometers long, with six gates and thirteen watch towers. In 1191 Montalcino was already a free commune; in 1235 the podestà (chief administrative official) was Jacobo di Schiatta degli Uberti, . . .