The small hamlet of Sambuca, in the municipality of San Romano in Garfagnana, is dominated by rugged volcanic cliffs on which stands, almost an extension of the rocks themselves, the Church of San Pantaleone.

The “chapel of Sambuca” was already named as dependent of the Pieve di Fosciana Church in a document of Lucca Diocese of 1260. Due to wars and plagues, the church was in a state of neglect and in 1444 it was rebuilt. In the 15th century, Sambuca is remembered as one of the “walled” village of the Estense Garfagnana “to be kept in a fortress”.

The deep canyon, traced by the Serchio river, which separates the Sambuca hill from the Mount Capriola in Poggio is crossed by the imposing railway bridge of the Villetta, one of the most characteristic elements of the Garfagnana landscape.