With deep, emotional connections to Scotland, its own tartan and a fish and chips festival, the town of Barga is an unlikely "Brigadoon" in the Tuscan hills.

In the medieval hilltop town of Barga in Tuscany's Serchio Valley, between the marble-white Apuan Alps and chestnut forests of the Apennine mountains, many things can take the unwitting visitor by surprise.

The blue and white saltire of the St Andrew's Cross, Scotland's national flag, hangs above steep, cobblestone lanes scented by wisteria. Snippets of thick Scottish accents muddle with the rhythmic flow of Italian. At the right time of year, bagpipes drone through the air. Come towards the end of January, and, if you're lucky, you'll hear the poetry of Robert Burns and get the chance to sample haggis.

Year-round, meanwhile, the Scottish staple of vigorously fried fish and chips is on the menu of local restaurants. And misty-eyed locals will not hesitate to tell you about their deep, emotional connections to Glasgow and the Ayrshire towns of Ardrossan and Largs on Scotland's west coast.

All who visit agree that Barga has a distinctive story – the local tourist board proudly proclaims it as "the most Scottish town in Italy" – and when I visited this fantasy-like "Brigadoon" to learn about its curious history, the Sun was a golden flare in the sky, the surrounding mountains sparkled and the streets were empty. The quintessential Tuscan town walls; Renaissance-era stone houses; and lemon, orange and pink villas couldn't have felt further away from the world I'd just left behind in Glasgow.

"A few years ago, we thought we'd find out how deep our connections are," said Maria Elisa Caproni, a historian and the town's librarian who had volunteered to lead me through Barga's Scottish-Italian timeline. It was a question that the town felt important to answer. "Of our 9,000 inhabitants, we calculated that about 60% have Scottish roots. It's incredible, really."

Like so many other locals, Caproni has a typical story. Struggling to find work in the Serchio Valley, family on her grandfather's side migrated from Barga to Scotland in the early 20th Century. After making money in Scotland's prospering shipyards and forestry industries, many Barghese returned a few decades later, bringing a love for their adopted homeland and many of its traditions back with them. Straight away, I noticed the connections too: contemporary Scottish art here; a red telephone box there. Earlier, at the town's entrance road, I passed a sign proclaiming Barga's twinning with Prestonpans, Cockenzie, Port Seton and Longiddry – each towns located outside Edinburgh in East Lothian.

Barga was already famous – it was an essential gateway to Rome for pilgrims, merchants and traders – and has a rich history. During the Middle Ages, the surrounding cities of Lucca, Pisa and Modena fought for the town in bitter disputes, as to rule it was to control foot traffic, population flow and – crucially – taxes.

As Caproni tells it, Barga voluntarily gave itself to Florence in 1332 to guarantee its protection, yet remained far enough away from the modern-day Tuscan capital to hold onto its independence and still benefit from advantageous tax concessions. Surveying this history today is a sensory experience: the town's most magnificent building, the Duomo, or

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