Prunetta

In some notarial deeds of the thirteenth century the name “Pruneta” appears, probably referring to what is now the Prunetta territory, indicating that it was invaded by brushwood and thorns. But the town was born long after, when the Municipality of Pistoia had already passed under the dominion of Florence.

The borders between the state of Tuscany and the states of Modena and Lucca pass from the Corno alle Scale, Open Book, the Abetone Pass, and the Alpe delle Tre Potenze, to the Liesina Valley.

From the ridge where Prunetta stands, the passageways to neighboring states are controlled. The place, a meeting point of communication routes, was important from a strategic point of view, so the Templars settled there and subsequently, in the 16th century, the State of Tuscany established a guardhouse there.

The first inhabitants were therefore soldiers. Subsequently, others from the neighboring villages came in, partly subservient to the needs of the guardhouse. From Calamecca the Ducceschi family seems to have arrived, one of the oldest in the country. During the Medici period and then Leopoldino, the life of the Prunettini family saw like that of all the inhabitants of the Pistoia mountains: a lot of misery and a lot of effort to live.

Things didn’t change that much with the advent of the Kingdom of Italy.

From the books of the state of souls we know that in 1829 the families of Prunetta were 67, and the inhabitants 337, in 1856 a slight growth was recorded, the inhabitants are 472.

After a slight decline, in 1910 the inhabitants reached the number of 730.After the Great War, the crisis removed many people from the country, who emigrated.In 1929 there were 677 inhabitants, 141 families, of whom 77 had the surname Ducceschi . From September 1939 Prunetta passed under the Municipality of Piteglio; until then it was under two municipalities, with discomfort for the inhabitants.

The town had a moment of great tourist notoriety between the early 1900s and the middle of the same century when, this nortoriety earned it the nickname “La Perla della Toscana”.