The town of Gallicano is in the province of Lucca and it has a population of little more than 4,000 inhabitants. Its territory is rich in many medieval constructions, such as the fortified village of Perpoli and the Stronghold of Trassilico that rises at more than 700 m. a.s.l.

The local toponym probably derives from a Roman "cognomen" that referred to the founder of the ancient settlement or to one of its illustrious inhabitants. The town experienced its first expansion in the Middle Ages, a period characterized by bloody fights between different seigniories, namely the ones of Lucca, of Modena and of Florence. During the whole Middle Ages, Gallicano belonged to the vicariate of the town of Trassilico.
Lucca established its dominion on the vicariate of Trassilico around the year 1000 and governed it for a long time which ended around the second half of the XIII century. Without any doubt, the XIV century was the most turbulent time for Trassilico and its villages since it was characterized by political and institutional chaos, by the violence of the wars between lords and by the diffusion of the brigandage in the whole Garfagnana and in the valley of the Serchio river. It was at this time that Florence tried conquer the territory with Barga as its strategic base and it succeeded into occupying and conquering Gallicano in 1347.
In 1451, the Garfagnana almost spontaneously annexed to the Estensi, namely the dukes of Modena, exception made for some towns. They transformed the Garfagnana into one province of their dukedom by annexing the vicariate of Trassilico and, therefore, also Gallicano. The town story that was linked to the fate of the Duchy ended with its annexation to the Kingdom of Italy in 1859. After World War II, after the suppression of the town of Trassilico, its former chief town and the hamlet of Verni entered the territory of Gallicano, while the rest of the centres originated the town of Fabbriche di Vallico.