Our story part 1 – the village of San Gervasio

During the renovation works of the farm where Agriturismo Due Comuni now operates, a very special stone was found inside a wall (in the photo below). Curious about the inscription and eager to discover the past of these places, we conducted historical research that led to the creation of three articles we want to share on our blog.
The first traces the history of San Gervasio, the village closest to us, which this farm was also part of. The second broadens the horizon to the entire Valdera, with a particular focus on the two municipalities that give our agriturismo its name. The third returns to the found stone and concerns the Mensa di Lucca (the institution that manages the diocese’s properties) and the “livelli” (the existing economic system in the area until a few centuries ago).
The name of the village of San Gervasio derives from an ancient parish that also named the castle situated on the hill above it. This parish is mentioned in the earliest historical documents that record the name of San Gervasio: a contract for the exchange of various lands made by Pietro, the Bishop of Lucca, in favor of the Church of San Gervasio in 899, and another contract from 930 regarding a property located between the castle and the church, which the Bishop of Lucca granted at a tribute of two silver denarii per year. Subsequent documents also relate to the management of the feudal rights that the Bishops of Lucca held over the area, which they managed through the parish. The inhabitants of the surrounding areas paid the parish of San Gervasio annual tributes in work, livestock, or agricultural products.
Over time, the Bishops of Lucca gained increasingly direct control over the castle of San Gervasio and its surroundings, often becoming its owners. Many documents attest to this, such as the purchase deed of 1045 by the Mensa di Lucca, whose transcription is available at the Archiepiscopal Archive of the Diocese of Lucca. Other documents include a contract from 1119 between the abbot of the Valserena Monastery in Guardistallo and Benedetto, the Bishop of Lucca, regarding the exchange of various properties, including some castles and villas of the parish of San Gervasio, and the peace treaty of 1175 in which Pisa, which had invaded the area since 1148, returned to two canons delegated by the Bishop of Lucca some parishes, castles, and villages in the vicinity of San Gervasio.
The feudal rights acquired by the Bishops of Lucca are also evident through a diploma granted in 1209 by Emperor Otto IV and confirmed by Charles IV in 1355, which also names the castle of San Gervasio and the surrounding territories.
From the 12th to the 15th century, the area was the scene of continuous wars between Pisa and Florence, and conquests by one or the other until 1496, when the area permanently came under Florentine rule. There were also conflicts between Florentine families, who aimed for these lands, and the Bishops of Lucca, who wanted to maintain both ecclesiastical jurisdiction and property and feudal rights.
Particularly interesting, due to the nature and importance of the goods, is the civil case concerning the estate of San Gervasio (17th and 18th centuries) between the Archiepiscopal Mensa of Lucca and the Alamanni brothers on one side and the Rucellai brothers on the other, regarding “livelli” issues concerning the estate of San Gervasio. We will return to this case in a subsequent article because it closely concerns our farm.
From the 1700s until the first half of the last century, the ancient castle was transformed into a villa and a farm that engaged in prosperous agricultural activities.