In 1776 the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo removed this title from the village, subjecting it to the dominion of Lucca, whose province Retignano is now part of.

Retignano returned to prosperity in the second half of the nineteenth century thanks to the opening of the marble quarries, mining sites of the bardiglio fiorito, appreciated especially by the English who financed the project.

Between the two world wars, the village experienced rapid depopulation caused by emigration to large cities or to foreign countries, particularly North America or Argentina.

After being besieged by the Germans and exploited for its enviable position, it was reclaimed by the American soldiers who placed one of their main bases during the advancement phase at the Gothic Line.

It is believed that even then there was a small group of huts surrounded by many fields, some of which were shared with the nearby settlements of Terrinca and Levigliani, where they have found traces of this population.

However, historians believe that not all of them were deported in southern Italy during the period from 177 to 155 BCE, probably because Rome was more interested in restraining these nomads away from the coast and the valley of Magra river, since they were considered property of the Romans, and the Apuans were only deemed as a threat to safety of the port of Luni and its trading importance.

In more sheltered areas and clearings like Gordici and Valimoni, about 700 meters above the sea level, there were the remains of smaller settlements called by the Apuans luki (which became loci in Latin).

While the French Boumond family settled in Riomagno, Seravezza, the Englishman James Beresford (in the archives often referred to as Belessforte) and his partner Gybrin preferred Retignano.

In 1821 Beresford and Grybrin, with local support, founded a company and they rented a quarry, Messette, from Francesco Guglielmi for nine years after paying 6,000 crowns.

In 1845 the Retignanesi argued that the British entrepreneur William Walton harmed the lands used for grazing and the collection of firewood and chestnuts.

[2][7] In the summer of 1944, at the height of World War II, Nazism extended to inland Versilia, including the village of Retignano and its surroundings, which were exploited for their strategic position from which the whole valley and the Tyrrhenian Sea horizon can be observed.

To solve the problem, Lorenzo Vannoni, one of the inhabitants of Retignano, asked the elders to talk about the celebrations and share their knowledge.