Camaiore

The land of Camaiore is rich with naturalistic and historical attractions. The mountains on one side, the plains on the other, both enclose villages, parishes and abbeys that bear witness to its long history.
The territory is scattered with the remains of fortified villages and feudal castles that were built between the X and the XIV centuries. The strategic position of Camaiore in fact attracted the interest of Lucca, Pisa and Florence. Right from the Middle Ages the Luccan government, with the intention of gaining an outlet onto the sea, combated and won against the feudal lords, the Cattani or Cattanei, who dominated Versilia, then fighting Pisa and Florence in order to defend the new colony of Camaiore and its territory.
Not always easily reached, the traces of the ancient walls, of the strongholds and the towers are hidden among the woody vegetation in a very striking atmosphere in the setting of the austere Apuan Alps.