VADA

English version

A historical outline of Vada. In this fine plain there flow two rather important rivers: the river Fine which flows along the northern border with the hamlet of Rosignano Solvay and the stream Tripesce that marks the border between Vada and Cecina. To the east the territory of Vada borders the province of Pisa, to the west it is bounded by the the Tyrrhenian sea. The inhabited centre lies near the sea , just where once there existed only an unhealthy marsh. Nowadays Vada is situated in the centre of a very fertile plain which is intensely cultivated and at the same time is it a summer resort where more and more tourists decide to spend their holidays every year. In fact here you can find numerous camping sites situated in an area of several kilometers near beautiful pinewoods. Besides the large areas, where the Mediterranean pinewood with its underwood grows carefully protected, here you can also find some areas that maintain partly their ancient aspect . In these damp areas the bed of reeds and the typical vegetation create a shelter for the aquatic species. The beaches of Vada are mostly sandy. Off the coasts of Vada, 7.5 Kilometres away, banks of rock-cliffs appear on the surface, and they are marked by the Lighthouse. One of the most picturesque places of Vada is Mazzanta situated a little bit outside the inhabited centre to the south, but it is well urbanized and rich in tourist attractions . As to the road connections Vada is one of the best served centres as it is crossed by the State road Aurelia 1 ,moreover it is situated near the State road 206 and the railway station. In the past Vada, situated on the left of the river Fine which was the ancient border between Pisa and Volterra at the end of the street that united Volterra to the sea, was the port of that city both in the late- Etruscan and Roman age .Its name, derived by the word vadum which means landing (ford), reminds us this particular function. In distant ages the plain of Vada which is rather low in comparison with the sea level fostered the production of salt through an accurate system of canalizations that brought the sea water towards the inside where the heat of the sun fosterd the drying up. This procedure is also described by the Roman poet Rutilio Namanziano (5th century AD) . This production still existed In the Lombard age, about 754 AD , as it is mentioned in documents of that period. In about the 11th century Vada had a castle and a church devoted to St Giovanni and St Paul , maybe this church was built in the open country just in the place still called Conventaccio. Besides there was the Benedictine abbey of St. Felice that afterwards passed to the Dominican nuns, we suppose it was situated inside the castle in the northern area of the tower where there exist big building structures now buried. In 1079 Vada resisted the Genoese fleet that attacked the port, but in 1126 it fell under the rule of this maritime republic until 1165, when Pisa reconquered it. It was under the Pisan rule , about in the 11th century, that significant fortifications were built to defend the port and the castle. These lands, which were infested by the malaria, in the 13th century were almost desert so that governments exempted from paying taxes those people who decided to go and live there. From 1406 on Vada had alternate ups and downs: first it was under the rule of Pisa, then it belonged to Florence, later it was occupied by the forces of the Duke of Milan in 1431 and in 1433 it came again under the rule of Florence. In 1452 it was occupied by the fleet of the King of Naples who set fire to the fortress and destroyed it. In 1484 the Genoeses arrived and eleven years later the Florentine troops took it again. Since the end of the 16th century Vada was almost uninhabited and malaria and marshes took possession of it more and more. It was under the Lorena domination that Vada, included in the project of the reclamation of Maremma, rose to a new life (see :Vada/reclamation). The pinewoods, you can see nowadays, are evidence of the work of reclamation undertaken by the Lorena. In 1873 a cast iron foundry was installed and the railway station on the line to Collesalvetti was also built. The foundry didn't last for a long time, but other small industries for the manufacturing of the products of the country nearby were established along the Aurelia road towards Cecina. MONUMENTS. The Medicean sighting tower is more internal than the beach. A large part of the construction now existing is rather recent (the final part was rebuilt completely in 1900), but the foundations and the vault date back to 1284 when the Commune of Pisa decided to build it to furnish the entrance of the port with a lighthouse for the signalling. For this work the Pisans appropriated 300 Pisan denarii a month. One of the elements of great interest is the excavation in the area called St Gaetano. Both Garibaldi square and the church were built under the rule of the Lorena family in the first half of the 19th century when the work of improvement and reclamation were carried out. This square is situated at the end of the long and straight street that connects Aurelia Street to the Emilia Scauri street. Once there was an open gallery around the square while now only a part of it exists. ARCHAEOLOGY. The origins of Vada are very ancient. The name itself dates back to the Roman age and it means ford or landing (" Vadum "), in fact it represented the commercial landmark of Volterra that was tightly connected to this port. Roman writers such as Tito Livio, Cicerone and Plinio mention it as a maritime port of a certain importance. The Roman poet Rutilio Namaziano describes his entrance in the port and says it is rather difficult to land because of the shoals that, however, protect the bay from the strength of large waves. These shoals betrayed lots of navigators as we can see from the large amount of finds that have been found on the seabed in this zone. In the Museum of Rosignano Maritime it is possible to see an interesting series of amphoras of different kinds found at Vada that is one of the richest places in the whole municipal territory for archeological finds . The excavations in the area called St. Gaetano, in addition to hundreds of coins belonging to the Roman age, has brought to light the foundations of a big thermal structure which dates back to the 2nd century AD. The finding of a lot of coins, also kept in the Town Museum, bears out the hypothesis that this area was in the centre of a well developed commercial activity. Thanks to the indications included in the so-called Peutingeriana Tablet written by a dealer in the 3rd century B.C., which mentioned the main places of the Roman empire in order of route, we know this centre was really very important in the past. In this document, which has a great historical value , we can find mention of an important centre called "Velinis" situated just where Vada lies at present.This place is symbolized by two" little houses"(see Vada/tower/port). Besides the numerous tombs that have been found near Poggetto and almost everywhere during the construction of the most recent part of the town lead us to believe that in the Roman age there was a considerable settling. CURIOSITY. There is a legend about a seaquake which submerged a town called Val di Vetro. In days when the sea water is particularly clear someone has believed to make out the remains of imposing buildings on the seabed. ( see: Vada/legend). Lots of ships have shipwrecked on the shoals of Vada, among these numerous Roman ships, the steamboat Australia and an American war ship. On 19th October 1867,at night,on his way from Caprera, Giuseppe Garibaldi landed at Vada on board of a small boat escaping the vigilance of the royal ships that had to prevent the departure of the general from the island.