Pistoria (in Latin other possible spellings are Pistorium or Pistoriae), situated on the Ombrone River about twenty miles (thirty-two kilometers) northwest of Florence, had been a center of Gallic, Ligurian and Etruscan habitations before becoming a Roman colony in the sixth century BCE, along the important road Via Cassia: in 62 BCE, the demagogue Catiline and his fellow conspirators had been slain nearby.

From the fifth century, the city has been a bishopric, and during the Lombardic kingdom, it was a royal city and had several privileges.

Pistoia's most splendid age begins in 1177 when it proclaims itself a free commune: in the following years it will became an important political center, erecting walls and several public and religious buildings.