Cascina () is a ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) in the

Province of Pisa The province of Pisa () is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Pisa. With an area of and a total population of 421,642 (), it is the second most populous and fifth largest province of Tuscany. It is subdivided i ...

in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

region

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, located about west of

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and about southeast of

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

. Cascina is located on the left shore of the

Arno River The Arno is a river in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the most important river of central Italy after the Tiber. Source and route The river originates on Monte Falterona in the Casentino area of the Apennines, and initially takes a ...

, on a markedly plain terrain. The ''comune ''borders the following municipalities: Calcinaia, Collesalvetti, Crespina, Casciana Terme Lari,

Pontedera Pontedera (; ) is an Italian comune with a population of 30070, located in the province of Pisa, Tuscany, Central Italy, central Italy. The town is located 20 km (12 miles) from Pisa and 50 km (31 miles) from Florence. It houses the headquarte ...

, San Giuliano Terme,

Vicopisano Vicopisano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pisa in the Italian region Tuscany, located about west of Florence and about east of Pisa. It occupies the former valley of the Arno River (which now flows some km southwards), boun ...

History

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 Casina ( ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Emilia, in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about west of Bologna and about southwest of Reggio Emilia. The municipality of Casina contains the ''frazioni'' (su ...

'' ("Small House"), or from the creek that crossed it (now disappeared), or from an

Etruscan __NOTOC__ Etruscan may refer to: Ancient civilization *Etruscan civilization (1st millennium BC) and related things: **Etruscan language ** Etruscan architecture **Etruscan art **Etruscan cities **Etruscan coins **Etruscan history **Etruscan myt ...

personal name A personal name, full name or prosoponym (from Ancient Greek ''prósōpon'' – person, and ''onoma'' –name) is the set of names by which an individual person or animal is known. When taken together as a word-group, they all relate to that on ...

, Latinized as ''Cassenius''. On 26 July 1364, the eponymous

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

between the armies of

and

was fought here. The event was later reproduced by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

in painting, 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.

Geography

; ''Frazioni'' The municipality is formed by the municipal seat of Cascina and the villages (''

frazioni A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'') of Arnaccio, Casciavola, Laiano, Latignano,

Marciana Marciana is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Livorno, Tuscany (Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsu ...

, Montione, Musigliano, Navacchio, Pettori, Ripoli, San Benedetto, San Casciano, San Frediano a Settimo, San Giorgio a Bibbiano,

San Lorenzo a Pagnatico San Lorenzo a Pagnatico is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Cascina, province of Pisa. San Lorenzo a Pagnatico is about 14 km from Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) ...

San Lorenzo alle Corti San Lorenzo alle Corti is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Cascina, province of Pisa. San Lorenzo alle Corti is about 8 km from Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in ...

, San Prospero, San Sisto al Pino, Santo Stefano a Macerata, Titignano, Visignano and

Zambra ''Zambra'' () (from Andalusi Arabic ''zamra'', originally from classical Arabic ''zamr'') is a style of flamenco dance, typical of the Roma of the provinces of Granada and Almería (Andalusia, Spain). It is believed that the zambra is a continuat ...

Main sights

*Medieval walls *Castle of Ripoli *''Pieve di Santa Maria'' *''Oratorio di San Giovanni'' *Church of the ''Madonna dell'Acqua'' (Madonna of the Water) * Parish church of Saints Ippolito and Cassiano In the village of

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 In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

, renovated in the 12th century in Pisane-Gothic style. The ''frazione'' of

has the church of ''San Miniato'' (10th century). At Montione is found the Abbey of San Savino.

Infrastructure

The ''frazione'' of Santo Stefano a Macerata is home to the

European Gravitational Observatory The European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) is a consortium established to manage the Virgo interferometer and its related infrastructure, as well as to promote cooperation in the field of gravitational wave research in Europe. It was founded D ...

and the

Virgo interferometer The Virgo interferometer is a large-scale scientific instrument near Pisa, Italy, for detecting gravitational waves. The detector is a Michelson interferometer, which can detect the minuscule length variations in its two arms induced by the p ...

, one of the few facilities in the World for the search for

gravitational wave Gravitational waves are oscillations of the gravitational field that Wave propagation, travel through space at the speed of light; they are generated by the relative motion of gravity, gravitating masses. They were proposed by Oliver Heaviside i ...

Twin towns - Sister cities

Cascina is twinned with: * Umm Dreiga, Western Sahara * Sebnitz, Germany * Saliès, France, since 2007

References

External links

Official website
Cities and towns in Tuscany Castles in Italy {{Pisa-geo-stub