Until the introduction of potatoes, entire communities that did not have access to wheat flour relied on chestnuts as their main source of carbohydrates.

From 1583 records are saying that "Infinity of people live solely on chestnut trees." In 1584, the governor of Genoa ordered all farmers and landowners to plant four trees a year, one of which was chestnut, and the others were olives, figs, and mulberries. Many communes owed their prosperity to the emerging chestnut forests.

In 1802, an Italian agronomist said of Tuscany that "chestnut fruit is practically the only source of subsistence for our highlanders."