Sansepolcro, formerly Borgo Santo Sepolcro, is a town and comune founded in the 11th century, located in the Italian Province of Arezzo in the eastern part of the region of Tuscany.
Today, the economy of the town is based on agriculture, industrial manufacturing, food processing and pharmaceuticals. It is the home of Buitoni pasta, founded by Giulia Buitoni in 1827.
History
According to tradition the founding of the town came about through two 9th-century pilgrims to the Holy Land, Arcanus and Giles. They returned to the region and built a chapel dedicated to Saint Leonard, where they established a monastic way of life. The ruins of the chapel were built upon in the construction of the current Cathedral of Sansepolcro.
The first historical mentions of Sansepolcro date to 1012, referring to the construction of the monastery, around which a commune began to develop. The settlement was declared a market town by the Emperor Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor.[4] The abbey chose to affiliate with the monks of the Camaldolese Order, based in the area, in the following century. During the conflicts between the Guelfs and Ghibellines, the town's factions were headed by prominent local families, including the Pichi, Bercordati, Graziani and Bacci.[5]
It last came under control of the Papal States. The local dialect derives from those of the Citta' di Castello and later of the Casentino valley. In 1367 Pope Urban V gave the town and its surrounding contrada to the Malatesta family, whose heirs ruled it until control was assumed by the Republic of Florence in the 15th century with the approval of Pope Eugene IV. It was raised to the rank of a city a century later by Pope Leo X.
During World War II, the town was saved from destruction by the efforts of Tony Clarke, a British Royal Horse Artillery officer who halted the Allied artillery attack in order to save Piero della Francesca's fresco Resurrection.[6]