CALAMECCA (PISTOIA) 2019

Calamecca is located near the sources of the Pescia di Pescia river in its highest valley called Valdiforfora, not far from the other hamlet of Crespole and near the woods of the Macchia Antonini estate. It is located at 693 m s.l.m. of the Pistoia mountains. The first certain news of the toponym Calamecca dates back to the early Middle Ages, precisely the year 766 and is contained in a document preserved in the Pistoiese Historical Archive concerning the purchase of land with houses by a noble from Pistoia of Lombard origin, a Willifredo of Willerado.
The history of Calamecca was always linked to that of Pistoia from whose armies. In 1182 the castle was destroyed because it rebelled against the Pistoia government. After 1300 Calamecca, like all the Pistoian Mountains, was involved in the bloody battles between the White and Black Guelphs and subsequently between the Panciatichi and the Cancellieri factions.
From here also passed Francesco Ferrucci from Pescia and headed to Florence from the mountains to avoid the preponderant imperial forces that intercepted him on August 3rd 1530 in the territory of Gavinana where the famous battle was fought in which Ferrucci died.
Calamecca, like many towns in the province of Pistoia, suffered a harsh retaliation by the retreating German forces on 19 and 20 September 1944 during which 15 people died, including two children.
For centuries the economy was based on agriculture and breeding, particularly on the chestnut, of which there were vast plantations that gave the sweet flour, the basis of the feeds of the mountain families, which, however, were forced to migrate seasonally in the Maremma to survive. , but also in Sardinia and Corsica for forestry work, particularly for the preparation of vegetable charcoal. In recent decades Calamecca, like other mountain countries, has seen its population decrease enormously due to emigration, especially towards the cities of the plain. A decent summer tourism is currently the only voice of the rural economy.