Camaiore, the ancient "Campus Maior"

The history of Camaiore dates back to 190 B.C. when Romans, after creating Lucca, decided to build some fortresses at the foot of Prana Mountain. Lucensis community was born in the big level ground (Campus Maior) from where the name Camaiore derives.
After the fall of Western Empire, Goths and Byzantines invaded the territory. Lucca retook the control of the city thanks to Lombards and as the Christianity developed, the first churches such as “Pieve of Santa Maria” and “Pieve of S.Stefano” were built.
Powerful feudal lords took the control over Camaiore that, around the year 1230, once again was included among Lucca’s municipalities and it became the administrative center in 1308.
The city, not efficiently protected, was again put under the control of others people from Pisa and was destructed by German mercenaries in 1329. Old people from Lucca, after gaining the control of the city again, decided to build the walls and their construction ended in 1380. Those was not enough to protect people of Camaiore who went through the domination of Florence and Francesco Sforza in 1440.
The city came under the control of Lucca in 1470.
To celebrate the victory of a battle of 1532, a triumphal arch out of Porta Lombricese was built.
However, Camaiore lost its position of administrative center in 1620 and, in the same period, Viareggio increased its importance thanks to the commercial traffic of Lucca.
In 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte wanted the creation of the Republic of Lucca. After the Napoleonic Age, Maria Luisa of Spain ruled until 1824. When she died, her son Charles II took the power.
In 1847, the city was part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany under Leopoldo II and it became part of the newly created Italian Kingdom in 1860.