Mangona

Mangona, sometimes called Mangone, is a locality located in the municipality of Barberino di Mugello, in the metropolitan city of Florence. Today a small village nestled in the hills of Mugello, in the past it was the seat of the eponymous county and the Castle of Mangona, now in ruins. Its strategic position made it a prominent center in the Middle Ages and during the Grand Duchy era. The toponym "Mangona" has uncertain origins, but it could derive from the Latin "mangon", a term used to indicate a merchant or an intermediary, perhaps linked to ancient commercial activities in the area. Starting from 1140, Mangona was a fiefdom of the Alberti family, counts of Prato. Alberto IV degli Alberti di Mangona received confirmation of the fief from Emperor Frederick I in 1164. However, his lineage progressively lost properties in Chianti and was defeated in the battle of Montepiano in 1184. His sons, Alessandro and Napoleone, were protagonists of a bloody inheritance dispute that led them to exile and eternal damnation in the "Caina", according to Dante Alighieri in the Inferno (Canto XXXII). In 1273, Florence conquered the castle to return it to the rightful owner Alessandro. The noblewomen of the Alberti house were celebrated by French troubadours, including Guglielmo de la Tour and Aimeric de Peguilhan, who praised the beauty of Beatrice and Adelaide of Mangona in their works. In 1332, Margherita di Nerone, the last descendant of the Alberti, sold the county to the Bardi di Vernio. However, in 1341, the Municipality of Florence acquired the castle and the fief of Mangona. From that moment, the locality definitively entered the Florentine possessions. In the 18th century, Mangona became an important customs control point. In 1788, a new customs house was built near the Rio della Vergine, replacing the one at the Forche. The customs house was then abolished in 1814, after the reunion of the County of Vernio with the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. During his escape after the fall of the Roman Republic, Giuseppe Garibaldi passed through Mangona on August 26, 1849. He then continued towards Montecuccoli and the Mulino di Cerbaia before heading to Prato. During 1944, the hills above Mangona were crossed by the Gothic Line, the scene of fierce clashes between German troops and the Allies. The parish priest of Santa Margherita, Don Crisante Taddei, reported the looting suffered by the church at the hands of the Germans. Mangona has historically been divided into two parishes: San Bartolomeo, located inside the castle, now transformed into a private residence. And Santa Margherita, founded at least in the 13th century and rebuilt in 1520. Next to it is the oratory of San Barnaba. Bartolomeo Corsini set his heroic-comic poem "Il Torracchione Desolato" (1660) in Mangona.

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