There were as many as thirty-six parishes in Bagno a Ripoli at the beginning of the modern era. The communities that were set up with the reforms of Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo in 1774 reduced the territory in favour of the present borough of Rignano sullÕArno. In the beginning of the 19th century the portion on the righthand side of the Arno was detached to create the community of Rovezzano; however the community suffered many further changes and alterations when the "great city of Florence" was set up, until it eventually acquired its present composition after the First World War. Bagno a Ripoli has gradually become more and more a residential town in the last few decades thanks to the fact that it stands so close to the metropolitan area of Florence. At present it has about 27.000 inhabitants, who not only live in the towns in the district - Grassina and Antella are the largest - all of which have grown vastly in recent years, but also in the surrounding countryside, where many of the old farmhouses - in the past castles or tower houses - and ancient houseshave been restored. We should remember that the parishes in the Middle Ages were composed of a main parish church and several subsidary churches, and thus formed an ecclesiastic district; they also carried out much of the fundamental civil organization, including many administrative and therefore "laical" functions, like local road maintenance, as well as having to contribute towards the costs of war.