On the arms of Crespina a porcupine walks, and it got there by way of a wrong etymology. The name is first documented in 983 as Crispina and probably has Etruscan origins, from a personal name; but a folk etymology takes it from in acri spinario, that is from the thorny field, and it is that reading which ended up on the municipal seal, granted in 1903, where the animal crosses a green countryside under a wavy silver band. The village passed under Lucca in 1115, was occupied by the Pisans between 1165 and 1175 and given back, and from the thirteenth century remained Pisan for good. Then Florence came: the fortress was destroyed in the raids of 1332, the castle was taken in 1405 after a long siege and dismantled in 1431 following a rebellion.
From the end of the seventeenth century these hills became the place where the noble and well-off families of Livorno and Pisa came to spend the summer; the nineteenth century was the high point, and villas, farms and hunting lodges were built one after another: Villa Belvedere, frescoed by Giovan Battista Tempesti, Villa Ciuti, Villa Corsini Valdisonsi, Villa Sforni, Villa Ott and a dozen more. With the summer season came the painters: Giovanni Fattori, Silvestro Lega and Telemaco Signorini worked in this countryside, and the Tommasi — Adolfo, Angiolo and Lodovico — owned Villa il Gelsomino. On the first of January 2014 Crespina and Lorenzana became a single comune, with the seat at Crespina; and the arms granted in 2018 put together the pieces of both: the laurel wreath and the embattled band of Lorenzana, and the porcupine of Crespina.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Crespina Lorenzana
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
