The town of Orciano Pisano is in the province of Pisa at 122 m. of altitude and it has a population of about 600 inhabitants. The church of San Michele Arcangelo, restructured after an earthquake of 1847, can be visited inside this small town of medieval origins.

Some acts found in the Archiepiscopal Archive of Pisa demonstrate that the modern town already existed as a castle in the VIII century with the name of "Ursiano". Its toponym had Lombard origins. Its current denomination, instead, first appeared in an imperial diploma of 1017. The uninterrupted correspondence between the Pisan bishopric and the church of San Michele, still present in the town's centre, demonstrate that the town fell under the hegemony of Pisa in the centuries after the year 1000.
Therefore, it can be easily inferred that Orciano belonged to the group of Pisan towns that adhered to the Florentine domination in 1406. The economic and political importance of the town's church remarkably grew at the end of the century after it was involved in the rebellion of 1949, with which Pisa made his last attempt of insurgence before being annexed to Florence.
In the XVII century, Orciano became a feud, too, and was ceded as a marquisate to Roberto degli Obizzi, a man from Padova who had distinguished himself as a rider at the court of the Medici. At the time of the Marquisate that lasted until the end of the XVIII century the population reached and exceeded the number of 200 inhabitants.
Orciano became a city-state in 1783, when the Lorraine obtained it back after the death of the last member of the Obizzi. In the meantime, he new grand ducal family, that had substituted the Medici, had suppressed the feuds with the reforms of 1776. The town got its current name of "Orciano Pisano" only in 1862 after it was in the hands of the Vicariate of Lari, first, and of the vicariate of Rosignano, later.
One of the most terrible episodes in the history of the town is linked to the earthquake of 1846. Its repercussions on the territory were remarkable and, in the end, Orciano turned out to be one of the most hit towns because it lost most of its houses and ancient buildings. For a certain period, its survivors were obliged to shelter in the church of san Michele. In 1927, Orciano lost its town autonomy and was aggregated to the town of Santa Luce. Only in 1957, after a stringent bureaucratic battle, the inhabitants of Orciano could obtain their independent statute back.