Fie'solé

Fie'solé (Lat. Fæsulæ), one of the most ancient of Etruscan cities, is situated on the crest of a hill, about 3 miles NE. of Florence. Here the Gauls defeated the Romans in 225 B.C.; and here Hannibal encamped after crossing the Apennines. The city was made a military colony for Sulla's veterans, who twenty years later lent warm support to Catiline. The place was seized by the Goths, and was not captured by Belisarius until after a long siege. Its decay began in the middle ages with the rise and growth of Florence, and it has now only about 2000 inhabitants, chiefly occupied in straw-plaiting. The sole vestige of Etruscan architecture remaining is the cyclopean wall. The amphitheatre and other remains belong to the Roman age. The town has several buildings dating antecedent to the 15th century, amongst them the cathedral, built in 1028 and restored in 1256; a pretorian palace of the 13th century; and a Dominican (1406) and a Franciscan (1350) monastery.