The thematic itinerary among the testimonies of the Middle Ages in Montalbano is rich in monuments that testify to the intricate events of which the area was the scene. The imprint of the whole territory, both in its western and eastern sides, is historically medieval. Beyond a toponymy that can be traced back to the Etruscan and Roman times (the toponym of Montalbano would derive from a pre-Indo-European alba-alpa idiom, meaning ‘mountain’ and Lamporecchio from ‘blade’ in the sense of ‘water’), the they are essentially castles and fortified villages, numerous especially towards the Valdinievole, and parish churches, frequent, vice versa, especially on the eastern side, towards Pistoia. As for the prehistoric period, some finds of chipped stones suggest the presence of hunters and fishermen in the southern area of Montalbano, while the remaining part, swampy in the plain and covered by forests on the hills, would not have been permanently inhabited. On the other hand, the Etruscan testimonies are relevant, most of which is concentrated in the Carmignano area. From antiquity through the Middle Ages, Montalbano saw the succession of Romans, Lombards, Carolingians, the Ottoni Empire, up to the rebirth of the year 1000, and then again it was the scene of struggles between Pistoia, Florence and Lucca, with a peak of armed clashes in the early decades of the fourteenth century. Only the submission of Pistoia to Florence (1306) brought a period of relative tranquility. In an ideal and physical path, from north to south, the path in the medieval Montalbano starts from Serravalle Pistoiese, which in Roman times was crossed by the Via Cassia. Here you can admire the Porta della Gabella (13th century), the Old Fortress with its square tower, and the New one with the hexagonal tower (1318). The Church of San Michele dates back to the eleventh / twelfth century, with seventeenth-century alterations, with important examples of Romanesque terracotta brackets in the apse. It preserves the fresco of the Miracle of San Biagio by anonymous dating from the first half of the 300, as well as the triptych of Bartolomeo by Andrea Bocchi da Pistoia (1438) depicting the Madonna enthroned with the Child, two angels and Saints Ippolito, Jacopo, Michele and Stefano . A special mention also deserves the Church of Santo Stefano, documented from the second half of the thirteenth century, in Romanesque style. It was set on fire in 1501 during the fights between the Panciatichi and the Chancellors, so the interior was rebuilt in Baroque style. Also of interest is the cycle of frescoes recently discovered and recovered in the Oratory of the Assumption of the Virgin, made by artists of the Pistoian school with Giotto influence. In the Rocca Vecchia there is the Barbarossa tower, 40 meters high and dating back to 1177. Well preserved, the Rocca Nuova was built by the Lucchesi on the west side, dominating the Valdinievole; with a triangular plan, it has a quadrangular bastion (accessible and from which you can enjoy a suggestive view of the Valdinievole), a pentagonal bastion connected by a walkway to the hexagonal tower commissioned by the Lucca commander Castruccio Castracani. Going down the eastern side of Montalbano you reach Quarrata, where the Church of Santa Maria Assunta is located, with a Romanesque structure but remodeled in the last decades of the nineteenth century. After Quarrata, in Tizzana, there is the Pieve di San Bartolomeo, which already existed in 1138. In the locality of Buriano the Church of San Michele Arcangelo and the rectory clearly show the systems of the medieval masonry. Also from north to south, it is possible to travel through medieval history starting from Monsummano Terme, where the first Florentine Podestà settled in 1331; in the upper part, Monsummano presents the vestiges of the circle of the ancient walls, a pentagonal tower (XIV century) and two medieval access doors. In the village there are the Church of San Niccolao (XII century) and the bell tower (XIII century). In Montevettolini, between Monsummano and Larciano, the towers of the castle, whose existence is documented in the 12th century, survive, transformed into the bell tower, into the body of a Medici Villa and into a corner of the Palazzo Comunale, which in turn dates back to to the XII century. To visit the Church of San Michele Arcangelo and San Lorenzo Martire (witnessed in 1260), with a bell tower obtained from a tower. Inside there are various paintings of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Unmissable is a view of Larciano and, in particular, of its fortified village (13th century). There is a 36-meter high quadrangular tower, perhaps of a pre-existing structure to the fortress, built after 1226, the year in which the descendants of the Guido Guerra di Modigliana account sold Larciano to the Municipality of Pistoia. At the center of the fortress there is a cistern, which indicates the potential water autonomy of the fortification in the event of a siege. The fortress houses the Civic Museum, with finds ranging from the prehistoric age to the Renaissance. As far as Prehistory is concerned, the Museum collects lithic tools found in the Larciano area (including scrapers from the Upper Paleolithic, a Neolithic arrow cusp), the objects of one of the funerary tombs for incineration of Poggioni, Roman coins, cinerary jars and poculum, 14th and 15th century majolica, Renaissance majolica, Etruscan ceramics, fibulae and objects and fragments also coming from areas other than Montalbano. Also in Larciano stands the Church of San Silvestro (1260), deeply remodeled in the following centuries.