San Gemignano di Controne is 532meters above sea level and 7.5kilometers from Bagni di Lucca. La Controneria is the largest and most populated area of Bagni di Lucca, the most important villages in this area are Pieve di Controne, San Gemignano and San Cassiano.There are also Guzzano,Gobereto,Mobbiano,Longoio and Vetteglia.San Cassiano is made up of different little groups of houses named Campiglia,Cappella,Vizzata,Cembroni,Cocolaio,Livizzano,Chiesa and Piazza. At the ‘Refubbri’ a place on the road to Bagni di Lucca,theres an ortary dedicated to the Visitation of Mary, her gaze wanders towards Pratofiorito and its nearby mountains.This was one of the favourite walks of Elizabeth and Robert Browning english poets of the 19thcentury,when they stayed in Bagni di Lucca.Robert Browning in the peom “By the Fire-side” describes this walk.The origin of the name Controne is unknown.It’s antique name was Paetano or Paetiana(da pagus).

The History
In some parchments of the years 758,772,777 and 787 the names Controne and Contronese had been used.Vetteglia is remembered in records of the year 983 and Mobbiano in the 900’s.Until the middle of the 13th century La Controneria extended from Fegana to Camaione the principle church was not the antique Pieve San Stefano di Bargi but the Pieve di Santa Guilia which is now the area of the cemetry of Pieve di Monti di Villa.After the middle of the 13thcentury they formed two parishes, with the River Camaione used as a boader line between the two territories. In 1197 the city council agreed to an alliance with San Genesio of Florence,San Miniato Prato and Volterra to liberate the territory from a feudal bond.The Controneria sweared loyalty to the council in 1214.With the help of Francesco Castracani by returning to make part of the Parish of the Val di Lima they had special privileges because of it’s large population and was represented in the Parliament of the Val di Lima by four mayors, from the 19thcentury these mayors chose to live at San Cassiano.San Gemignano and San Cassiano until the middle of the 1600’s was one comunity but because of a clash of interests they divided in 1637 and lived separatly even though they had the same mayor.In the files of the city council of Bagni di Lucca theres two statutes of 1572 and1637.The parish church is entitled to Bishop San Gemignano (which liberated the daughter of emperor Costantinopoli from the devil) and its feast day is the 31st of January.The church has one aisle. Its organ is an Agati-Tronci of 1897(n° 1176) and has been recently restored like the pulpit. The bell tower was built at the end of the 1800’s.