Colognora di Pescaglia

The origin of Colognora di Pescaglia dates back to the 2nd century BC when some three thousand Roman colonists were transferred to the Lucca area. Even the very name “Colognora” indicates a clear Roman origin ( coloniola means “a small colony”). The oldest written evidence of Colognora di Pescaglia is dated 29 August 828 and is preserved in the Archiepiscopal archive of Lucca. From this parchment document, it appears that Alirando del fu Aliperto assigned a house and a forest of chestnut trees to the Church of S. Stefano in Villa Roggio, thereby indirectly referring to Colognora.

The town is a network of narrow streets that rise and fall between the characteristic stone houses of the old contadino and mountaineer culture of the Lucca area. The houses are characterised by arches, roof terraces and loggias that together create a unique impression, so much so that the director Spike Lee chose Colognora for the set of the film Miracle in Sant’Anna.

The Chestnut Museum of Colognora di Pescaglia

Colognora di Pescaglia hosts the National Chestnut Museum, founded in 1985 on the initiative of the local village committee which wanted to collect in a museum that everyone can visit, the most disparate tools that belonged to the farming (contadino) culture of the area.

The foundation of the contadino culture of Colognora di Pescaglia and its economy was for centuries the chestnut woods, an inexhaustible source of food and wood that was used to build attics, roofs, huts, tools, furniture. The pieces collected speak of the way of life that had characterised the existence of many people for centuries, an economy based on two elementary resources: water and chestnut. Hence the name Chestnut Museum given to the collection.

It has been discussed in specific publications and numerous university faculties, discovering its particularities, have not failed to make it the object of study and in-depth examinations.

Since 2014, the National Chestnut Museum has housed a room dedicated to the Lucchese composer Alfredo Catalani, which houses a collection of unpublished writings by the composer, recently published in the collection From Venice to Colognora in Val di Roggio: a precious collection of unpublished writings of the composer from Lucca.