Fosciandora is a small centre in the Garfagnana in the province of Lucca with little more than 700 inhabitants. The Sanctuary of the Madonna Della Stella built in 1662 on the remains of ancient church can be admired in its territory.

Its collocation in Medieval history coincides with its geographical position. In effect, Fosciandora borders both with Lucca, because it is set between the Garfagnana and the valley of Lucca, and with Northern Tuscany, since it is a crossroads between Massa, Lucca, Pisa, Florence, Ferrara and Modena, namely the cities that long fought for its possession. Its troubled events are still testified by the remains of fortifications and defensive structures still scattered in the five areas that constitute the town. The walls of Lupinaia and the stronghold of Ceserna (dating to the year 1000) with the Romanesque church of Sant'Andrea on the inside are worth being cited.
Even if many cities desired to control it, Fosciandora's Middle Ages was characterized by the domination of Lucca that was established around the X-XI centuries. The six centres of the town (the modern chief town and the five hamlets) belonged to the vicariate of Castiglione di Garfagnana as it can be inferred from a document dating to 1308. The XIV century was a time of great changes for all the area of Lucca over which Florentines and Estensi started to claim their rights.
In 1451, when the power of Lucca remarkably weakened under the Florentines aegis, the area of the modern town was divided into two parts. One of them, which was constituted of Lupinaia, Riana and Treppignano, remained inside the border of Lucca, while the other made up of Migliano, Fosciandora and Ceserana ended up within the direct administration of Florence. In the same year, these town were ceded to the Dukedom of Modena of the Estensi and it created the vicariate of the Terre Nuove.
Fosciandora recovered its unity and autonomy only in 1846, when it was going to be annexed to the Kingdom of Italy. Its incorporation in the Italian kingdom took place in 1859 and, consequently, the Dukedom of Modena ended, too. Still in the XIX century, the spread of the cultivation of potatoes deeply changed the rural economy of the town that, until that moment, had been based almost exclusively on the exploitation of woods and grazing lands for the collection of chestnuts and livestock farming. Differently from other Tuscan towns, even if the town avoided the consequent countryside depopulation, Fosciandora did not experience the industrial development and the population increase of the postwar period.