The municipality of Altopascio is set in a narrow area of the Valdinevole and it is in the province of Lucca. It has a population of about 11000 inhabitants. Inside the city the XII-century church of Sant' Iacopo and the XI-century Castello can be admired.

Scholars have made many hypotheses on the origin of the name Altopascio. According to the "Lombard" interpretation, this term refers to the name of the river "Teupascio" or "Teupassio" (today called Tassinaia) cited in the documents since the X century. According those who back the Latin origin of the toponym, this probably derived from "altus passus", namely "high place", or from "altus passus" that means "pasture". Others maintain that it came from the ancient name of this town, "the place of the Topascio river", resulting from the union of the Lombard words "teu" (population) and "passio" (stream) which indicated the free access to the river.
The origin and the development of Altopascio are certainly linked to the story of the religious order of the "Ospitalieri del Tau" who took their name from the Greek letter carved on the town's tower.
It is said that it was founded around the first half of the XI century around the Ospedale, a building used to host and refresh the pilgrims on their way to Rome just like many other buildings along the Francigena way. The rule of these friars was to offer board and lodging based on the census and to nurse those people who could have become ill during their travel.
Since the beginning, this order gathered wealth through the donations by which the citizens and the aristocrats hoped to earn a place in Paradise. The Ospitalieri's prestige reached its acme in the first half of the XIII century, when the Pope and the Empire were fighting and numerous fortified cities as well as monasteries were flourishing and enriching.
Altopascio became the target of Florence because of the friars' fame and it was thanks to the Pope's protection that many times it avoided the Florentines' conquest.
The decadence of the Francigena way and the progressive impoverishment of the Tuscan countryside marked the decline of the Ospitalieri. On the Jubilees of 1300 and 1350, the Ospedale had to ask for loans to survive. In the XV century, this order fell under the supervision of lay masters. Consequently, also Altopascio lost its importance and its strategic role after years of siege by the major Tuscan cities.
Today, Altopascio represents an important link road and a city rich in historic testimonies. It has a consolidated industrial activity, but, above all, it is one of the Italian capitals of bread. It inherited this tradition from the ancient bakers that in the Middle Ages produced the bread to feed the pilgrims along the Via Francigena.
In spite of Altopascio's XIV-century political and economic decadence, bakers continued and improved their activity during the Renaissance up to these days. Currently, the production of bread is divided between the great productions of the cutting-edge industrial bakery and the small shops that can be visited while walking in the city.