Pescia is an Italian commune, which is famous for its Flower Market and the Adventures of Pinocchio (Carlo Collodi). It is located in a central zone between the cities Lucca and Florence, also near to Pisa. It is a commune of Pistoia province, with a surface of 79 km². The city is situated on the banks of the homonymous river Pescia.
The city has two different centres: the first one for lay and commercial activities of the left bank of the river and the second one for religious activities on the right bank. In the first one there is the castle and the square and in the second one there is the cathedral.
The city has also little villages on the Pesciatin mounts. Jean Charles Sismondi called Pesciatin mounts “Pesciatin Switzerland” because these mounts seemed similar to his Swiss mounts. All these villages are similar: they have (or had) walls, a little church and a tower, which has always become the church bell tower. The names of these villages are: Medicina, Fibbialla, Aramo, San Quirico, Castelvecchio, Stiappa, Pontito, Sorana, Vellano and Pietrabuona. Other villages of the comune are Collodi, Veneri, Alberghi and Chiodo.
The most important buildings of the city are Palace Palagio, Palace Della Barba, the Dome, the Communal Palace and the City Library. Another important building is the Old Flower Market (1951) for its modern architecture.
Economic activities in and around the city are: flower growing (carnations) and paper production. Pescia is famous all over the world for its flower growing and sale (it is called “The city of flowers”). It is enough to remember the sale relations, which Pescia has with Belgium. Paper production is a very old activity in Pesciatin zone, and nowadays many paper factories produce paper of good quality and sell it to all Italy. In Pietrabuona there is the Museum of Paper.
Pescia is an important school centre in its zone. In the city there are three professional high schools: economical, agrarian and graphic-touristic high school, and four cultural high schools: classical, scientific, linguistic and psico-pedagogic high school.