Pescia

Pescia stands on the river of the same name between Lucca and Florence. Its settlement is associated with the Lombards, whose word for a river is thought to have given the town its name. Mulberry cultivation and the raising of silkworms supported a local silk industry.

Lucca destroyed the town in the thirteenth century, but it was quickly rebuilt. Florence and Lucca fought over Pescia throughout the Middle Ages. In 1339, after almost ten years of war, Florence occupied it. The Black Death brought a severe decline in population and economic activity, from which the town recovered only toward the end of the fifteenth century. At the end of the seventeenth century the grand duke of Tuscany granted Pescia the title of city.