Our story part 2 – the two municipalities

After our first article on the history of San Gervasio, we now want to broaden our perspective to the surrounding area, particularly focusing on the two municipalities that give our farm its name.
The Agriturismo “Due Comuni” is located in Valdera. Geographically, Valdera refers to that part of the province of Pisa consisting of the municipalities of Capannoli, Chianni, Crespina, Lorenzana, Lajatico, Palaia, Ponsacco, and Terricciola. Due to the growing economic and administrative importance of Pontedera, some municipalities from the Lower Valdarno, such as Pontedera, Bientina, Buti, Calcinaia, and Santa Maria a Monte, are now also included in Valdera. Pontedera, in fact, is the city that provides the main administrative, educational, health, and industrial services to the other towns in Valdera.
We also find ourselves among the Pisane Hills, a historical and geographical region of about one thousand hectares consisting of the hilly areas of the province of Pisa located south of Pontedera and north of Volterra, distinct from the Livornesi and Florentine Hills.
Returning to the origin of our farm, it stands on the land of “two municipalities,” with the boundary not only cutting through our olive groves or the surrounding forest but even dividing the main building in two. So, if you are our guest, you might find that your room or apartment is in the municipality of Pontedera, take a few steps to breakfast, and find yourself in the municipality of Palaia.
The first municipality is Palaia, to which the village of San Gervasio, with its castle, belongs as a fraction, which we discussed in the previous article. Palaia is situated on a hill that serves as a watershed between the course of the Roglio stream and the Era river, and it has a millennia-old history. In the year 1000, its castle was owned by the bishops of Lucca; over the centuries, it frequently changed hands, following the battles and conquests that divided Tuscany and Italy during that time. In 1172, it passed to Pisa, in the 15th century, it became a possession of the Florentine Republic, in 1431 it was conquered by the Visconti of Milan, and then returned to Florence in 1433 and to Pisa in 1495.
Palaia is characterized by land suitable for cultivating vines, olives, fruit trees, vegetables, legumes, and potatoes. The exploitation of agricultural resources is still today a source of livelihood for the inhabitants of the area.
The second municipality is Pontedera. The name of the city derives from the bridge built by the Upezzinghi at the mouth of the Era river when the village of Pontedera did not yet exist; the first traces of the bridge date back to 1099. As with the castle of San Gervasio and Palaia, Pontedera was also involved in the battles between Pisa and Florence, leading Pontedera to be controlled alternately by one or the other. In particular, the battle of Pontedera in 1369 is remembered, which took place between the army of the Republic of Florence and the mercenary army of Bernabò Visconti, the lord of Milan, commanded by the famous condottiero Giovanni Acuto, with the latter emerging victorious.
From the Renaissance onward, with the establishment of the annual fair and the weekly market, Pontedera became an important commercial center in the area, an activity that complemented agricultural pursuits. The predominant crops were vines, olives, wheat, fodder, vegetables, and fruit trees. Most farms were small, and sharecropping was common.
From the Middle Ages to the early 20th century, the production of bricks was very important; in fact, you could find brick kilns along the entire course of the Arno from Fornacette to La Rotta. Both the manufacturing and the city market provided jobs for farmers who decided to leave the countryside.
In more modern times, Pontedera is mainly known as the headquarters of Piaggio, an international company that produces, among other things, the historic Vespa and is the main industrial activity in the area.