Three 4000 years old statues found near Licciana prove that this area is inhabited since very old times. After being fought over by the Byzantines and the Longobards, the little village was under the rule of the Moregnano family, and then of the Malaspinas. These latter maintained control over Licciana until 1797, when the French general Chabot abolished feudal rights in the area.

The new reforms brought by the French increased social equity, but the town's economy remained stagnating. After the Vienna Congress, a period of instability followed in the area: the towns in the Taverone valley were meant to be under the rule of the duke of Modena, but eventually some of them started to gravitate towards the Grancucato di Toscana ("grand duchy of Tuscany"), and others towards the Regno di Sardegna.

This period was the most memorable in Licciana's history: many members of the Nardi family joined in 1831 the Ciro Menotti movement for Italy reunification and had an important role in it. A first defeat notwithstanding, Anarcarsi Nardi remained faithful to Menotti's project and participated in an expedition led by the Bandiera Brothers, where he was killed. To honour the memory of the Nardi family, the town decided to associate their name to its own.