The medieval village of Cutigliano set on the Tuscan-Emilian Appenine is in the province of Pistoia. It is set at an altitude of 678 m. and it houses the Palazzo Pretorio, the XV-century church of the Madonna di Piazza and the church of San Bartolomeo.

According to the legend, Catiline's Roman legionaries founded the town of Cutigliano after they had been defeated in 63 b.C. The hypothesis that the first village rose around the VIII century a.D. along the road of the Alpe alla Croce, an important junction road between the plain of Pistoia and Modena, is more logical. Until the XIV century, the area was within the jurisdiction of Lizzano and later the city of Pistoia directly controlled it.
In the first years of the XIV century, the inhabitants of Cutigliano had to face Castruccio Castracani's expansion aims, while in 1330, the rebels of the Valdinievole, that the captain Angiolo Panciatichi later tamed, menaced the village again. The turbulent situation in the area convinced Pistoia to take steps and instituted the "Capitanato della Montagna" in 1368 following the example of Panciatichi. This captainship was given the task to govern Cutigliano and, at the same time, to control the nearby castles thus ensuring a continuous defence of the area. After some disputes with Florence, it was decided that the captain had to be a Guelf.
In 1377, after four years Cutigliano's first captain was elected, a small part of territory was bought to build the Palazzo Pretorio. This Florentine Renaissance-style building still exists but its windows in the attic were modified and redrawn in the XVIII century and the ones on the ground floor were remade in 1930. The emblems of the different captains that ruled in the years can be seen on the façade of the building.
Cutigliano's strategic role did not weaken with its annexation to the Florentine Republic after the conquest of Pistoia at the beginning of the XV century. During the years, the town experienced the same fate of this great chief town by becoming part of the Tuscan Grand Duchy in 1537 under the Medici, first, and later under the regency of the Hapsburg-Lorraine until the Unity of Italy in 1860.