The first mention of Cascina is from a document of 750 AD. The origin of the name is uncertain, but it could derive from Casina ("Small House"), or from the creek that crossed it (now disappeared), or from an Etruscanpersonal name, Latinized as Cassenius.
On 26 July 1364, the eponymous battle between the armies of Pisa and Florence was fought here.[3] The event was later reproduced by Michelangelo in painting,[4] of which now preparatory drawings and a copy by Aristotile da Sangallo (also known as Bastiano da Sangallo) exist. The city had in fact a strategical importance as a fortified stronghold on the main road connecting the two cities.
In the village of Zambra there is a 9th-century church with unusual wall paintings of fish in pre-Romanesque style. At San Casciano, a frazione with c. 3,000 inhabitants, is a basilica, renovated in the 12th century in Pisane-Gothic style.
