The river Pescia flows through the foothills of the Apennine mountains in northern Tuscany. Today ten medieval hilltop villages remain in the Pesciatina valley rising like islands out of its dense chestnut forest. In the Middle Ages there was an eleventh.
Sitting atop a mountain, Lignana was in a strategic position to offer its rulers a place in which they watched and controlled the whole valley. The castle was destroyed in a raid by Pisa in 1362 after which the Florentines decided to permanently break down the village in 1364 being tired of continuous attacks. The inhabitants moved to nearby villages of Sorana, Castelvecchio and Lanciole. Lignana‘s stones are still to be found lying strewn deep within the forest.
Sorana built an extension to its village to house the influx of inhabitants which is known as ‘Paradiso’, as the women who came from Lignana to live there were beautiful.
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