Principality of Piombino
1398–1805 state in Tuscany, Italy
The Lordship of Piombino (Signoria di Piombino), and after 1594 the Principality of Piombino (Principato di Piombino), was a small state on the Italian Peninsula centered on the town of Piombino and including part of the island of Elba. A vassal of the Kingdom of Naples associated with the State of the Presidios and a territory of the Holy Roman Empire formed from the remnants of the Republic of Pisa, it existed from 1399 to 1805, when it was merged into the Principality of Lucca and Piombino. In 1815 it was absorbed into the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
History
Founding and early history of the Lordship of Piombino (1399–1445)
On 19 February 1399 Gherardo Appiani ceded Pisa and the majority of its territories, which his family had owned since 1392, to the Visconti of Milan for 200,000 florins, reserving the commune of Piombino for himself and his successors; moreover, he also took possession of Populonia, Suvereto, Scarlino, Buriano, Abbey of San Pancrazio al Fango and the islands of Pianosa, Montecristo, and Elba; forming a newly established state, the Lordship of Piombino.
Gherardo had his residence built in Piombino in the small square (now Piazza Bovio) and on his death, in 1405, he left the state to his son Iacopo II. The latter, born in 1400, for the first years, was under the tutelage of his mother, Donna Paola Colonna. During the years of regency and afterwards, the politics of the Appiani family were oriented first towards an alliance (obtaining protection with a deed of pardon) with the Republic of Florence, then that of Siena, and finally again with Florence.
Orsini rule and Appiani restoration (1445–1501)
When Paola Colonna Appiano died in 1445, the Appiani heir to the lordship Emanuele, son of Gherardo, was forcibly disinherited by his brother-in-law Rinaldo Orsini.
In 1447, Orsini erected a ravelin to better defend Piombino, in anticipation of Emanuele Appiani attempting to re-take the lordship. Allying with Alfonso V, King of Aragon and Naples, Emanuele besieged Piombino in 1448, also obtaining Sienese and Florentine help. After four months of useless attempts, the siege was abandoned and Rinaldo Orsini ruled the lordship until his death from the plague in 1450.
The public source identifies “Principality of Piombino” as 1398–1805 state in Tuscany, Italy. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Principality, Piombino and state.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q537503. Authority coordinates are 42.935, 10.522. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1594, 1399, 1805 and 1815.
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This entry incorporates text from “Principality of Piombino” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.