Inside the town of Castagneto Carducci, with 8,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno, the castle that belonged to the counts Della Gherardesca and Palazzo Espinassi Moratti can be admired. The latter once was the residence of the famous poet Giosué Carducci, whose name was inherited by the town.

Historical sources agree on attributing the birth of the first village of Castagneto to the Della Gherardesca. They had lived in this area since the 754, when the Lombard nobleman Walfredo, leader of this family, founded the monastery of San Pietro in Palazzuolo that included Castagneto and other territories in his properties. A document of 1161 confirmed the political link between Castagneto and its counts.
The Della Gherardesca ruled on their feuds even after Pisa bought them. The city had the right to exercise its juridical power on the country and remitted the other burdens and rights to the counts. Only at the beginning of the XV century, when the Pisan Republic fell in the hands of Florence, the Della Gherardesca's story ended.
In 1421, Castagneto was proclaimed an autonomous "comunitas", while the Vicar of Campiglia was entrusted with the authority on penal justice.
Yet, the counts could keep their rights of seigniory and, soon, they were also elected vicars of Campiglia, therefore keeping their power on Castagneto and the other towns. Nevertheless, Castagneto had already established its autonomous statutes and since the XVI century the disputes between the town and the Della Gherardesca on the ancient feudal rights that the inhabitants are less and less willing to recognize had increased. Despite the counts' concessions, the conflict got worse in the XVIII century and the Grand Duke himself was involved. He created the "comunitas" of Gherardesca by uniting Castagneto with Bolgheri and Donoratico in the territorial reorganization of 1776.
The inhabitants of Castagneto were unsatisfied with the new arrangement that confirmed the rights of the counts and they were became known as a rebellious population quite active during the Risorgimento uprisings in the XIX century. They constantly violated the vetoes imposed by the Della Gherardesca and rebelled in several occasions, such as the one for the possession of the oratory of San Sebastiano that was eventually given to the town. Among the supporters of the action against the counts that ended only when the town entered the kingdom of Italy in 1860 there was also Michele Carducci, Giosué Carducci's father. Once the town recovered its ancient and beloved name in 1907, it decided to add also the famous poet's last name.