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The Compitese (or Còmpito area) is a geographical region in the Province of Lucca, situated in the southern part of the Municipality of Capannori. It stretches along the northeastern slope of the Monte Pisano massif, overlooking the Lucca plain and the former basin of Lake Bientina (also known as Lake Sesto).

The Compitese occupies an area of the territory of Capannori that includes ten villages that once formed the "Piviere di Compito" and which today all belong to the Compitese parish community, comprising more than ten churches, under the care of a parish priest and an assistant. The area covers just under one third of the total surface of the Municipality of Capannori and is the least densely populated part of the municipality. It is a geographical zone that alternates between plains, hills, and low mountain terrain.

The ten localities that currently make up the Compitese are: Castelvecchio di Compito, Colle di Compito, Colognora di Cómpito, Massa Macinaia, Pieve di Compito, Ruota, Sant’Andrea di Compito, San Ginese di Compito, San Giusto di Compito, and San Leonardo in Treponzio.

The total population of the Compitese is 7,133 inhabitants (December 31 2024).

The partial shelter from the sea winds provided by the Monte Pisano massif creates a distinctive semi‑humid microclimate, making the area especially well‑suited to certain plant species. This feature is shared by all the villages of the Compitese.

The rolling hills, with their excellent natural drainage, are covered in extensive olive groves that have entirely replaced grape cultivation. These olives yield an oil of exceptional quality, long considered one of the area’s signature products.

The Compitese is also home to Italy’s only tea plantation, located at the Antica Chiusa Borrini estate in Sant’Andrea.

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The area—essentially an island of tranquillity—is the setting for numerous annual events celebrating the quality of local products: olive oil, prized since the Middle Ages, as well as fruit and vegetables, including the Fagiolo Cannellino di San Ginese, typical bean of the area.

One of the area’s most distinctive points of pride is the Exhibition of Ancient Camellias of Lucchesia, held every year since 1989 in Sant’Andrea and Pieve di Compito, with both spring and fall editions. The event showcases an impressive range of varieties grown by the many local nurseries, which—thanks to the area’s unique climate—cultivate some of the most celebrated camellias.

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The ancient Sesto lake, disappeared in the early 20th century after being drained, which now the Tuscans call "Padule" (a distortion of the word "palude" through a process of metathesis) is an area used for agricultural cultivation. There lies "Lago della Gherardesca", the last remnant of ancient Lake Sesto. It covers an area of ​​approximately 30 hectares and extends within a protected area along the migratory routes of birds, where hunting is prohibited. A short distance away is the Il Bottaccio Natural Protected Area of Local Interest "Oasi del Bottaccio", a protected wetland of extreme naturalistic importance, managed by the WWF.

The numerous fountains located throughout the area are extremely renowned, providing the population with uninterrupted supply of pure water. This efficient system is possible thanks to the many streams and rivers that flow from Monte Pisano, the mountain between Pisa and Lucca. The springs have recently been renovated and equipped with a disinfection system, and the water quality is monitored by periodic checks to ensure its drinkability.

The Latin origin of the name is uncertain. Riccardo Ambrosini (1926-2008) ^[2] and bishop Cesare Sardi, two leading scholars of local history, trace it to the Latin term compĭtum, meaning “crossroads” or “junction.” According to Bishop Cesare Sardi (Lucca, 18 June 1853 – Lucca, 22 September 1924), the name would specifically refer to the intersection of Via di Tiglio (now Strada Statale 439 Sarzanese–Valdera), located in front of the former hospital of San Leonardo, historically the focal point of the Compito area.[12] Ambrosini also notes a possible Lombard origin, pointing to its resemblance to other toponyms derived from Lombard personal names (such as Gumbizo).

Lake Sesto/Bientina, now vanished, covered the eastern portion of the Compitese until 1859, when drainage works began. These interventions produced in the 20th century a fertile plain lying on the former lakebed. The lake itself had formed only after the fall of the Roman Empire, when the Lombards and other barbarian groups invaded Tuscany and the hydraulic and maintenance systems that had sustained a fertile plain outside Lucca fell into disrepair.

The land reclamation was completed in 1892. This allowed archaeologists to uncover evidence of Etruscan, Roman, and Lombard settlements, the same places where they had lived across the centuries. Necropolises (Bernardi 1955-1957) and an Etruscan settlement were discovered in the Bientina area, while later discoveries were concentraed mainly along the "Rogio", the ancient southern branch of the Auser,^[3] between Colognora di Compito and Bientina.

Over the course of the twentieth century, these works transformed the former lakebed into a fertile plain. The lake itself had come into being only after the collapse of the Roman Empire, when the invasion of Lombards and other groups led to the deterioration of the hydraulic infrastructure that had once supported productive farmland outside Lucca.

Human presence in this area dates back 150,000 years, as evidenced by flakes, points, burins, and scrapers found in the area of ​​Castelvecchio di Compito.^[4] According to the archaeologist Giulio Ciampoltrini, permanent settlements along the banks of the ancient Auser River began to appear at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age as emerges from the excavations carried out in the area immediately north of the "Palazzaccio" of San Ginese di Compito.^[5]

Settlements were found on the right bank of the southern branch of the Auser, at Chiarone di Capannori, near Pieve di Compito, showning to date back to the 8th and 7th centuries, a period linked to the Villanovan culture.^[6]

File:Scavi del Chiarone.GC.png

According to historians, the Auser thus became one of the most important trade routes for the expansion of the Etruscans towards the north of Italy in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, with a real explosion of Etruscan settlements in the plain ^[7]: settlements have been discovered in Chiarone, Palaiola and in other areas of the Palude.

The invasion of the Gauls in 390 BC is well documented, driving the Etruscans back beyond the Arno, as shown from the depopulation of the villages along the Auser. The Apuans, usually inhabitants of the hills, could have taken advantage of this to occupy the reliefs of the Pisan Mountains and perhaps the Compitese.

But the advance of the troops of the Roman Republic towards the north was ceaseless. The date of the Roman conquest of the Lucca plain dates back to the period between 265 and 220 BC, as reported by Livy in Book XXI.^[8]The Roman consul Sempronius Longus, pursued by Hannibal during the Second Punic War after the defeat at the Trebbia (218 BC), while Hannibal joined forces with the Ligurians, traditional adversaries of the Romans, took refuge in Lucca^[9], probably already fortified and allied or already a Roman outpost.

In 179 BC, after a decade of battles with mixed results, the Romans, led by Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Aulus Postumius Albinus, defeated the Apuan-Ligurians, and the following year, 180 BC, downstream from their territories and precisely to stop them, founded a newcastrum, Luca, in the territory subject to Pisa, a city already allied with Rome. After the conclusion of hostilities with the Apuan Ligurians (155 BC) and at the end of the republican era, a large number of veteran legionaries were transferred to the marshy and swampy plain of Lucca, similarly to what is documented for Luni^[10]. As was the custom of the ancient Romans, the lands taken from the Ligurians and the Etruscans were first divided into squares, measuring 710 metres per side in its classical form, corresponding to 20 actus, therefore over 50 hectares, or 1/2 km2, each of which was theoretically intended to host one hundred families of colonists, from which the name of the technique used, "centuriation", derives.

The lands assigned to the veteran legionaries, as a reward for their loyalty to the generals, were dotted with rural dwellings, to guard the cultivated lands, each adopting the model of a domus with an atrium, well documented in the excavations of the Palazzaccio.^[11] A second colonisation is well documented ^[12], for which the prefect in charge of the division of the lands, L. Memmio C. Galleria, in the triumviral or Augustan era, assigned the lands to the veterans of the XXVI and VIII legions. The sites of Roman colonist settlements, discovered on the left bank of the Auser in the municipality of Porcari (Fossa Nera) and on the right bank of Capannori (Palazzaccio in Colognora di Compito), are rich in finds.

The Palazzaccio site, located on the canal's crest, demonstrates the succession of human cultures from the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC) to the present day, passing through the Etruscans, the Romans, the Lombards and throughout the Middle Ages up to the present day. At the end of the millennium (1999), an archaeological park of the "100 Roman Farms" was created, for the use of guided itineraries by archaeological professionals on the left bank of the Rogio, recently refinanced.

The current appearance of the Lucca plain landscape, with its loosely spaced rural houses distributed across the land, originates from the distribution of farmhouses implemented with Roman centuriations.^[13] Today's toponymy frequently refers to Roman colonization: Colognora (small colony) and Villora, the village of San Ginese now called Villa, from Villa,ae, Colle di Compito from the Latin Collis,is, Pieve di Compito from Plebs, Castelvecchio di Compito from Castrum Veteris, etc.

As in the early Middle Ages until the 11th century the village of Villa di San Ginese di Compito was a baptismal parish church, it is assumed that in Roman times it was a pagus which had a judicial seat, with a resident judging magistrate, on whom a surrounding territory depended.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Compitese plain, until then exploited for agricultural production, was invaded by the waters of the Auser: no one was responsible for the maintenance of the canals that had reclaimed the land, which was transformed into a marshy and swampy basin, the so-called Lake Bientina (for the Pisans) or Sesto (for the Luccans), subject to periodic flooding, which also made the surrounding areas uninhabitable, until it became the largest lake in the Tuscany region.[25] It is difficult to follow the development of its surface over the centuries, but Elena Paderi has thought to connect the presence of archaeological finds of tombs and other settlements, discovered as early as the late 19th century, to the absence of water in those places, thus demonstrating how in ancient Etruscan-Roman times, the lake extended only in its lowest part, enclosed to the south of the lake island by the hypsometric curves of level 6.^[14]

Being able to make up for the disappearance of Roman institutions, the religious bodies of the local communities, present everywhere, even in the territory of the Compitum, gained importance: parish churches, churches, hospitals ("xenodochia" and hospitalia pauperum et peregrinorum^[15]) and monasteries or abbeys.

According to Salvatore Andreucci^[16], one of the first historical references to the Compitese dates back to 983,a parchment reporting a rental contract, ^[17], in which the Bishop of Lucca Teudigrimo allivella^[18] to Sisemondo, ascendant of the lords of Montemagno of Lucca^[19], the lands of the baptismal plebs^[20] of Santo Stefano and San Giovanni Battista of Villa (Villora) and the possible proceeds from the inhabitants of 14 villages, dependent on the same Pieve: Paganico, Colugnola, Collina, Vinelia (Palaiola), Cerpeto, Vivaio, Colle, Tillio, Cumpito, Vico a S.Agostino, Faeto, Massa Macinaia. The dedication to San Giovanni Battista was introduced for all the Pievi by the Bishop of Lucca Pietro II (from 896 to 932).^[21]

Among the religious centres in the area, the one with the greatest prestige and power was certainly the monastery of the Abbey or Badia di Sesto, which Alberto Maria Onori rightly compares to an ecclesiastical lordship, due to its independence from the Bishop of Lucca.^[22] The building, the remains of which can be seen today in the Villa Ravano-Gabin, located in the territory of Castelvecchio, has its roots in the early Middle Ages. However, some artefacts dating back to the Roman era have been found in the Villa's vineyard. In particular, in the 1950s, in the park annexed to the Badia, a Latin epigraph emerged dating back^[23] to the 1st century AD ^[24], from which the probable dating of the settlement can be deduced, as confirmed by G. Ciampoltrini himself, who, regarding the inscription, refers to a figure in relief which would represent a boat. It is therefore possible that the depiction of the boat recalls the activities of fabri navales; the deceased could have belonged to a family involved in the construction of ships or boats.^[25] The epigraph is currently located in the Athena Museum in Capannori.

The Abbey of San Salvatore di Sesto was founded in 668 by Salimano, son of the Eastern Roman Emperor, while the first Abbot was Benedetto in 714: this origin is recounted by domnus Benignus de Luca del Massaro ^[26] and reported, with some doubt, by the same compilers in the Annales Camaldolentes Vol. I pp. 357-358^[27]. It was refounded by the mother Willa of the Marquis Ugo II of Tuscany^[28] in 996. A written document, reported by Barsocchini in his collection Memorie e documenti per servire alla storia di Lucca, Volume V part II, as document no. CCLIV, however, attests to its existence in 796^{[29] [30]}. It obtained various imperial recognitions, namely, those of Otto III in 986, Henry II in 1020, Corrado II in 1027, Henry III in 1053, which helped it to gather a vast territorial patrimony, extending above all in the Compitese but which reached as far as Volterra and beyond the Apennines, in the Parma area. With the papal bull of Sergius IV of 2 December 1010, the monastery had obtained immediate submission to the Holy See and absolute independence from the local ecclesiastical hierarchy ^[26].

The Parish Church of San Giovanni Battista and Santo Stefano di Villora certainly remained as such until 1026, as attested in document no. 114 of the Regestum of the Chapter of Lucca, which states: "Lignola (Colognora) prope plebem S. Stephani, que dicitur Villula".^[31]

In an unspecified year, certainly before 1077, the year of publication of parchment no. 429, which commemorates the new Parish Church of Compito,^[32] the Parish Church was moved to the current village of Pieve di Compito, which then took the title of Plebs Sancti Johannis Baptiste de Computo; the church of Villora then continued to exist as the simple Ecclesia Sancti Stephani de Villora, losing its dedication to Saint John the Baptist, which was transferred to the new Parish Church as a sign of continuity between the two Parishes. These are the historical beginnings of the Compitese, the Pieve di Compito with his Piviere.^[33]

The olive oil production of the area has been documented since the 11th century, when the measurement of rents was usually established in Cunpitesi measures.

In Italy, the phenomenon of castles signaled the strengthening of the local aristocracy, which in the Compitese was represented between the first and second millennium by the Ecclesiastical Lordship of the Abbey of Sesto, now disappeared.^[34] The second millennium began in the Lucca area, more than in other Tuscan regions, with renewed commercial and manufacturing activity (silk and wool), and in the Compitese we see the explosive birth of castles^[35] all wanted and controlled by the Abbey of Sesto.

Communal wars between the Tuscan municipalities ravaged the territory, together with famines and epidemics. In the 14th century, Pisan raids, particularly those of Uguccione della Faggiola's troops in 1313^[36], ravaged all the Piviere.

In the 11th century, within a few years, the Abbey fortified four nearby sites, thus creating: the castle of Compito (in Pieve di Compito), Castelvecchio and Castro Novo de Sesto (in Colle di Compito), and another castle on an island in Lake Sesto.^[37]

In the late Middle Ages, the Abbey of Sesto lost part of its autonomy, passing under the control of the Prior of Camaldoli (1115-1118) and in 1134 under the Monastery of San Benedetto Po, Mantua.^[38] The Guinigiano Extimo of 1411-1413 still lists its possessions in the Pieve di Compito.

Illustration no. 302, p. 324 of "Illustrations of the Chronicles in the Lucca Codex"^[39] portrays the single-nave church and the turreted bell tower of the Abbey of Sesto on 11 April 1397, when, in the wars between Pisa and Lucca, "When the people of Pisa fought, they took, stole, and pillaged Chastelvecchio di Compoto." The episode is narrated in Vol. I of the Chronicles of Giovanni Sercambi, Lucchese, on page 371.^[40]

Chastellaccio: in Pieve di Compito stands what should be the Compito Castle, held (among others) by the Sismondi^[41], a noble Lombard family; it was destroyed at the beginning of the 14th century by Pisan troops led by Uguccione della Faggiola. The moat and the perimeter of the walls remain, inside a forest on a hill. As J.A.Quiròs Castillo also points out in his "El incastellamento en el territorio de la ciudad de Luca (Toscana)" we must point out that there has often been confusion between the Compito Castle located here and the one that appears to have existed in the hamlet of Sant'Andrea di Compito, of which the splendid "Signal Tower" still exists.

Castenuovo (Castri Novi): in Colle di Compito, located on Monte Castello (held by the Lambercioni family and the Gallo family[47], first documentary attestation: year 1027, diploma of Corrado II^[42][43]);almost nothing remains of the fortification even if the village is perched on the hill as it must have been around the Castle.

Castelvecchio (Castrum Veteris): located on the hill of the homonymous hamlet of Castelvecchio di Compito (first documentary attestation: year 869, held by the Orlandinghi family^[44], destroyed in 1313^[45]); of the castle, the characteristic village on the top of the hill with the houses built into the walls survives.

Castle of the Island: located on the island with the church of San Benedetto, attested in the year 1027, diploma of Corrado II.Nothing remains of the island that once stood in the middle of Lake Sesto, nor of the church and fortress that once stood there: everything was destroyed by the Pisans. Artifacts dating back to various historical periods have been discovered on the site.

Castel Durante (Castrum Durantis):in San Ginese di Compito in the "Castello" area, founded by the Duranti family^[46]; it was destroyed by the Pisans in 1313^[47]; the castle, which was built where the Church of Castello is now, perhaps still stands in some double walls that lead to the top of the hill.

Castle di Poggio^[48] in Collina di San Ginese di Compito, or more likely in the nearby Al Porto area, founded by the Pogginghi family ^[49]. The castle still lives in the walls of the houses in the villages, but nothing of it can be appreciated.

Castle di Ruota, the Nobili da Photori and Ruota were the lords of this castle^[50], destroyed on 11 April 1397 by Strambo da Calci dei Pisani.^[51] Even in this village you can still see rows of double walls that belonged to the castle.

During this period, several villas of the lords of Lucca were built, including: the Palazzaccio dei Bernardini, sumptuous Renaissance villa, now a ruined farmhouse, on the Rogio; Villa Altogradi on the banks of the Rogio, still a private wonderful villa today, the Adorni-Braccesi, also in Colognora di Compito sul Rogio;

Villa Orsi at Pieve di Compito, which hosts the camellia exhibition; Villa of the Sesti lords, with an adjoining chapel, in Centoni di San Ginese di Compito.

In 1539, the statute of the Municipality of Lucca provided for a Commissioner of Duty for the Pivierj.^[52] In the 1547-1561 Extimo of the Pivierj of Compito appears to be composed of 13 municipalities: 1.S.Andrea, 2.Della Pieve, 3.Il borgo S.Agustino, 4.S.Michele a Colombaia, 5. San Frediano, 6.Castel Durante, 7. S.Giusto, 8.San Lorenzo di Massa, 9. Colle, 10.Castel Vecchio, 11.Ruota, 12. S.Maria a Ripa, 13. S.Piero a Forcone.^[53] The Plebs di Compito was composed as follows in 1587: 1. Ecclesia s. Pellegrini de Colline, 2. Ecclesia s. Adree, 3. Ecclesia s. Justi de Massa Macinaria, 4. Ecclesia s. Laurenti de Massa Macinaria, 5. Ecclesia s. Stefani de Villoria, 6. Ecclesia s.Bartolomei de Ruota, 7. Altar of s.Maria in dicta ecclesia, 8. Altar of s.Michaelis in dicta ecclesia, 9. Ecclesia s.Michaelis de Colognora, 10. Ecclesia s.Petri a Forcone, 11. Ecclesia s.Alexandri de Castro Durantis, 12.Ecclesia s.Johannis a Colle, 13. Ecclesia s.Blasi de Facto, 14. Ecclesia s.Marie ad Ripam, 15. Ecclesia s. Micheelis de Computo, 16.Ecclesia s. Columbani, 17. Ecclesia s. Johannis and Andree de Castroveteri, 18. Hospitale s. Leonardi, 19. Monasterium s. Andree in Silva, 20. Monasterium s. Quirici in Casale and for the Monasterio s. Spiritus eidem annexo, 21. Monasterium s. Michaelis de Guamo, 22. Monasterium s. Salvatoris de Cantigano.^[54]

On March 8 and 15, 1605, the Republic of Lucca decreed the dispatch of an "Extraordinary Commissioner for Criminal Matters," initially to regulate fishing and then for other crimes. The first was Simo Menocchi, who was based in Colle di Compito for 40 days, with jurisdiction over: Pieve S. Paolo, Capannori, Santa Margherita, Colle, Castelvecchio, Tassignano, Badia, Palaiola, and Ruota. On July 16, 1632, due to brawls between the Compito residents and the inhabitants of Calci, another commissioner was appointed with criminal jurisdiction for the municipalities of Compito and Massa Macinaia, based in Sant'Andrea di Compito. On May 8, 1636, another commissioner was appointed, required to reside in Sant'Andrea di C., with both criminal and civil jurisdiction over the entire Piviere.^[55]

In 1636, the Vicariate of Compito was established to replace the Piviere. It comprised 12 communities, whose deputies constituted the Parliament of Compito: 1. Compito, 2. Ruota, 3. Colle di Compito, 4. Vorno, 5. Castelvecchio, 6. Massa Macinaia, 7. San Giusto, 8. Castel Durante, Villora, and San Ginese forming a single municipality, 9. Badia di Cantignano, 10. Coselli, 11. San Leonardo in Treponzio, and 12. Colognora di Compito.^[56]

Each community approved its own statute, containing internal organizational rules, albeit at different times. The "governors" were chosen who had the role of convening and coordinating the meetings of the representative men, whenever it was necessary to resolve problems, generally relating to agricultural and pastoral activities, or other local issues, such as the course of the streams and the lake, etc.^[57]

In 1685 the Vicariate included 9 communities, listed below with the respective number of heads^[58] [70]: Colognora (30); S.Lunardo (18); S.Ginese (68); Castelvecchio (79); Ruota (112); Massa Macinaia (85); S.Giusto (22); Compito (280); Colle (228) for a total of 913 heads.^[59] After fluctuating phases, on January 1,1669, the Commissary of Compito was renewed annually without interruption until 1802, and Sant'Andrea di Compito became home to the Commissioner's Palace. Its jurisdiction included the communities of the Vicariate, which with the judicial reform of 1802 were subjected to the Court of First Instance of the Serchio Distrit, or Lucca. However, Sant'Andrea remained a Justice of the Peace until 1808^[60] and a Podestà from 1815 to 1818.^[61] The new provisional government of the Republic of Lucca in 1801 also confirmed the Vicariate of Compito with the following participating communities: 1. Badia di Cantignano, 2. San Giusto di Compito, 3. Castel Vecchio, 4. S. Leonardo di Compito, 5. Compito Pieve, 6. Coselli, 7. S. Andrea di Compito, 8. Massa Macinaja, 9. Colle di Compito, 10. Ruota, 12. Colognora di Compito, 13. Vorno. 14. S. Ginese di Compito.^[62] In the first days of May 1801, there were episodes of intolerance towards the new government. Commissioner Francesco Minutoli reported that about forty "ill-intentioned people" from Pieve di Compito, Palaiola, San Ginese, and Colle, "all armed, came to this square and uprooted the tree," "then where the tree had stood, they planted a cross," shouting "Long live the Cross, long live Religion!"^[63]

In 1823, the entire Compito area was incorporated into the Municipality of Capannori, but Pieve di Compito continued to exist as a religious entity. According to E. Repetti^[64], it had the following inhabitants: 1832

Pieve di Compito (body of the parish church): 620 Sant'Andrea di Compito: 660 S. Maria di Colle di Compito: 1168 S. Michele di Colognora di Compito: 191 San Ginese di Compito: 838 San Giusto di Compito: 156

1844

Pieve di Compito (St. John the Baptist): 790 St. Andrew of Compito: 784 St. Mary of Colle di Compito: 1406 St. Michael of Colognora di Compito: 227 St. Ginese of Compito: 986 St. Giusto of Compito: 484 St. Andrew of Castel Vecchio di Compito: 572

The Compito area remained under the jurisdiction of Lucca until its annexation to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in 1848. In 1859, the final reclamation of Lake Bientina was completed, thanks to the outstanding hydraulic engineering work designed by architect Alessandro Manetti.

Currently the Compitese area has ten parishes, which are part of the Compitese parish community, the rectory of whose titular is located in San Ginese di Compito: the community is part of the pastoral area of ​​the Piana di Lucca, in turn included in the archdiocese of Lucca.^[65]

The area once boasted numerous castles, but except for the remains of Castelvecchio, nothing remains. Churches were, and still are, the vital centers of the villages.

Located in Colle di Compito, from the 11th century, it became a parish church and thus represented the main religious center of the Piviere, after the Parish Church of Santo Stefano and San Giovanni Battista, located in Villora, lost importance.

No trace remains of the ancient parish church, a Romanesque building with three naves, because in 1728 it was demolished and replaced by a rather imposing Latin cross structure with three naves and 12 quadrangular columns.^[66]

It was founded in 919 in a place called "Trebbio"[2][3]; No longer able to accommodate the entire population, it was expanded for the first time between the 12th and 13th centuries. It underwent other major renovations later, including the bell tower, which was rebuilt in the mid-19th century on the ruins of the old tower. The church of San Pietro a Forcone is the oldest in the village, and in the 17th century, by then semi-abandoned and in poor condition, its benefices were moved to the new parish church of Sant'Andrea.

In the Middle Ages, it completed the complex defense system of the Republic of Lucca. A brazier was placed on the tower's roof, which was lit in the event of a Pisan invasion. This sent a light signal to Compito Castle, which in turn relayed it to the Palace Tower in the center of Lucca. This enabled the people of Lucca to send armed troops into the Compito area to stem enemy attacks in time. For the tower's strategic importance, during the 15th century, the lord of Lucca, Paolo Guinigi, ordered its renovation. A metal cage was placed along the front wall, into which the heads of those condemned to death were placed, as a warning to other potential outlaws.

It was the seat of the Commissioner of the Piviere di Compito (( 1605–1805 ), and then, from 1638, of the Vicariate, as well as of Parliament. It was divided into two apartments on the first floor, one of which, the eastern one, was occupied by the Commissioner. On the ground floor were the prisons and a loggia. It was owned by the Niccolai family of Lucca and in 1754 was purchased by the Republic, which sold it to the Orsi family in 1824. Today, it no longer has its original appearance due to renovations.^[67]

In the 18th century, noble and wealthy Luccans built numerous luxurious villas in Sant'Andrea di Compito: Villa Orsi, Villa Campetti, Villa Rosa, etc. Their spectacular gardens host the Exhibition of Ancient Camellias of Lucca in spring.

In the locality of La Badia in Castelvecchio di Compito are the remains of the ancient imperial Abbey, namely the remains of a bell tower, incorporated into the current building, which dates back to the 7th century.^[68]

The current structure was built in 1865, over a pre-existing building.

In 1675, it was renovated and equipped with a new bell tower. In the 20th century, the two side naves were added and the bell tower was renovated again.

The current church was built on a previous Romanesque building and was expanded in the 17th century. Two centuries later, another church, the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Consolazione, was built within the hamlet, where an old shrine once stood.

It was mentioned as early as 844, but the current building dates back to 1859, when it was rebuilt by the architect Giuseppe Pardini. It also served as a lookout point for Aacient Lake Sesto.^[69]

The first mention of the place of worship of San Giusto dates back to the year 1000. The church was demolished and replaced with a larger one in 1864. Its ancient bell tower also served as a watchtower and signal tower during the wars between Lucca and Pisa.^[70]

The first documentation of the Church of San Bartolomeo in Ruota dates back to 1260.

Don Aldo Mei, parish priest of Ruota, was killed by the Nazis after being accused of harboring a Jew. Today, his act of resistance makes him a point of reference for the residents of Ruota and the entire Compito area.

The complex is located at the ancient intersection of Via Di Tiglio (now SS 439) and the old provincial road.

The Church of San Leonardo in Treponzio was built in the 11th century and is dedicated to Leonardo di Noblac.

The first mention is dated 30 November 1115: it concerns a donation of an olive grove "so that the fruits of the same [olive grove] may serve for the use and food of the pilgrims who come and go".^[71]

The area has always had a strong rural and agricultural vocation.

An excellent product is the olive oil of Compitese, produced from the many olive groves scattered across the hills. In Pieve di Compito, there are two active oil mills: "Il Frantoio la Visona," which still produces using traditional methods, and the "Frantoio Sociale del Compitese", the most famous oil mill in the Lucca area.

The area occupied by the Padule (known on maps as the Bientina riverbed) is now used for intensive cereal cultivation and for pastoral activities, such as livestock grazing.

In Sant'Andrea, there is an area dedicated to the cultivation of camellias, which hosts the famous Camellia Festival, the main event in the Compitese area.

Crafts, construction, and the agri-food industry are also widespread.