in ancient times it was on the border between the area settled by the ligurians (also called the magelli tribe), the etruscans and the gauls. the roman colonization left very few signs behind because the mugello was mostly an agricultural area. in the middle ages it was home to many castles. later on, mugello was taken over by the republic of florence. several families of the city built villas (large houses) there. they were similar to ones built by the medici royal family.