Colognora
Discovering Colognora di Pescaglia
Colognora di Pescaglia is a small hamlet with only 70 inhabitants, located in the province of Lucca. The history of the village dates back to the 2nd century BC, when three thousand Latin settlers were deported to the Lucchese territory. The name "Colognora" itself seems to indicate a clear Latin origin ("coloniola" = small colony). The oldest historical news of the village dates back to August 29th, 828 and contains references to a house and a chestnut forest, which were part of the church of S. Stefano at Villa Roggio. The village is characterized by a grid of narrow streets that go up and down among the typical stone houses of the old peasant and mountain culture of the Lucchese area. The inhabitants are very proud of the beauty of their village, so much so that director Spike Lee chose Colognora as one of the sets for his movie "Miracle at St. Anna", making it famous all over the world.
Monuments and Places of Interest
Colognora di Pescaglia hosts the prestigious National Chestnut Museum, born in 1985 thanks to the initiative of the local village committee which wanted to collect the tools and equipment belonging to the peasant civilization to make them visitable for everyone. The chestnut has always been at the center of the area's economic and cultural life, being an important source of timber for the construction of floors, roofs, huts, tools, furnishings, and utensils, as well as of food for the population. The museum represents the essence of this economic system, which for centuries has characterized the life of the people who live here. The collection has aroused great interest also outside national borders, so much so as to give rise to different friendship agreements with Italian and foreign municipalities that link their history to that of the chestnut and the chestnut tree, such as the municipality of Nomaglio, in Piedmont, Pfaffenheim, in French Alsace, and the municipality of Antraigues-sur-Volane, in the French department of Ardèche.
The National Chestnut Museum has become the subject of study for numerous university faculties that have discovered its particularities and made it the subject of in-depth examinations. Since 2014, the museum also houses the first room in Italy dedicated to the Lucca-born composer Alfredo Catalani, in which unpublished writings of the composer recently published in the collection "From Venice to Colognora in Val di Roggio: a precious collection of unpublished writings by the Lucca composer" are kept.
Conclusions
Colognora di Pescaglia is a small village of enchanting beauty, where history and peasant traditions blend to create a unique experience for visitors. Thanks to the National Chestnut Museum, it is possible to discover the culture of this territory and to get to know better the history of the chestnut and the chestnut tree, witnesses of an economic system that has characterized for centuries the life of the people who lived here. Colognora is a place worth visiting, both for the beauty of the village and for its historical and cultural importance.
