The patron saint of Piegaro is Pope Saint Sylvester, celebrated on 31 December in the church dedicated to him. The name Piegaro probably derives from the Latin pleca, "fold", referring to the terrain's many undulations.
The town is famous for its ancient glassmaking, which tradition says was introduced by Venetian craftsmen in the late 13th century, following the decree by which the Republic of Venice banned all furnaces from the city, moving them to Murano in 1292; the old glassworks has housed the Glass Museum since 2009, while the present-day Vetreria Cooperativa Piegarese is among the most important in Europe. Within the municipal territory, at the Pietrafitta locality, stand the Benedictine abbey of the Sette Fratelli, the ruins of a Franciscan convent, and the 19th-century church of Santa Maria Assunta, with a fine 17th-century wooden crucifix; not far away also lies the archaeological area of the Città di Fàllera, an ancient Iron Age settlement.
