. The communal age was a period of intense growth in which Fucecchio had strategic importance as a frontier territory in the disputes between Lucca and Florence, saw the exploits and sometimes decided the fate of Castruccio Castracani. On 14 December 1330, following its own request, the municipality of Fucecchio entered under the power of the Florentine Republic and from that date it followed its fate and wishes, accepting among other things also the Podestà who would be designated by the Signoria. Around the middle of the 1300s, population growth was slowed down by a serious plague and the population was decimated. The recovery was slow and coincided with the repopulation of the countryside starting from 1500, becoming even faster from the second half of the 1700s. Thus, in 1800, Fucecchio was again a populous town with the main activities related to manufacturing, crafts and to small businesses; but it will be after the Second World War that it will meet its true “industrial revolution” thanks to the development of the tanning and footwear sectors. In the nineteenth century the community followed and participated in the historical events of the Risorgimento expressing itself with one of the most important figures of the time, Giuseppe Montanelli. On 23 August 1944 the hamlets of Querce and Massarella were among the places hit by the massacre of the Padule di Fucecchio in which the 26th armored division of the German Nazi army killed a total of 175 civilians (of which only one partisan). Fucecchio was liberated on 1 September 1944 by the 6th South African Armored Division and the 1st American Armored Division.
