The village is mentioned in a document dated beck to 952 as a community subject to the parish of Pieve Fosciana. It was the first hamlet in the Garfagnana to make an act of dedication to the Este family of Ferrara, obtaining tax relief, and the strengthening of the defensive walls, in 1429. It is located on the Apennine buttresses that overlook the Pieve plain and it is an ideal observatory over the entire valley, in a strategic position and in direct visual relationship with the fortified village of Castiglione di Garfagnana and the fortress of Mont’Alfonso in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana.

The village, rich in ancient buildings including some important Renaissance palaces, and the parish church dedicated to St. Lorenzo, develops in concentric rings around the hill, at the top of which is the medieval quadrangular tower, now in ruins. There are two entrances to the village which are closed by mighty gates during the Renaissance Festival dedicated to the bandits of Sillico, led by the Moro, a character also mentioned in Ludovico Ariosto’s letters to the Duke of Este. “Il Moro” gave its name to a network of paths and easy loop walks that start from the village itself.