The Lima Valley

The valley is everywhere narrow and deeply incised among steep wooded mountain slopes.
From Tana Termini to Astracaccio the Lima crosses a wide strip of mesozoic terrain and for several kilometres its waters flow violently through a gully which, at the Cocciglia narrows, resembles a deep furrow cut in the limestone.
It is just here, in the valley’s wildest and most inhospitable spot, that the most ancient human remains have come to light. The first traces of a human presence in the Val di Lima, which dates to the Upper Paleolithic Age, have been identified in a natural hollow found on the right bank of the torrent, above the dwellings at Ponte Maggio, the ancient Roman “pons maior”, in contrast to the “pons minor” (Ponte Nero) situated about 1 km. downhill.

The Val di Lima hardly felt the Etruscan expansion, the extension of which into the coastal strip north of the Arno has yet to be identified with certainty. For a long time, it has been believed that the Arno itself was the line separating the Ligurians and the Etruscans and that toward the 6th-5th centuries B.C., the Etruscans penetrated the coast of Versilia as far as Magra, in search of minerals, though without occupying the area. This opinion is to be revised in light of recent discoveries, which show evidence of a prolonged Etruscan presence not only in the strip between the Arno and Serchio, but also further north, in Verslia and the plain of Lucca.
It is not known whether their trading presence and activity also developed towards the Val di Lima: at present the archeological evidence does not confirm their presence; but traces of the Etruscans having been in the valley can be found in the place-names, which may give quite important information on the probable origins and membership of populations.
Even the name “Lima”, if it does not refer to the ground’s susceptibility to forming landslides, might have its origins in an Etruscan place-name. The name Rio Lièsina can be traced with certainty to Etruscan, due to the stress and the suffix “-ina”. The same considerations hold for “Rio Limestre”, certainly derived from the same root (Lima) and having the ancient ending “-estre”.
These names apply to water courses and should therefore not come as a surprise: research in toponymics indicates that, in general, in this highly conservative sphere, names are of particularly ancient origin.To these may be added “Corsena”. Nevertheless, as with Corsagna and Corsonna, tributaries of the Serchio, it might derive from the noble Latin term Curtius-anus (house of Curtiana).

However, the Val di Lima belongs without doubt to the Ligurian cultural region. The presence of Ligurian settlements in the region is confirmed by the the box tombs in the necropolis at Montefegatesi and numerous clay remains found during excavations made in August 1968, near to a farmhouse on the Rocca Piturella rise.
More light may be cast on the ancient dwellers of the Val di Lima by the lithic complex at Casoli, especially if, as seems likely, the presence there of a Celtic solar calendar is accepted.


Agriturismo Il Lago 55020 Casoli - Bagni di Lucca (LU) - P.Iva 01651730465 - tel. 0583.809358 cell. 335.1027825 - info@agrilago.it