Culture and Territory in Lunigiana

By Massimo Conti

Of all the less-traveled routes in Italy and Tuscany, Lunigiana is one of the last real Italian destinations.

Its authenticity is undeniable, all you have to do is walk through the saturday morning street-market, down the village's narrow alleys where everyone knows each other, to discover a world of ancient heritage and rhythms. Life flows naturally, the stores close at lunch-time, the gastronomic varieties are countless and just waiting to be explored. This is the face of real Italy, a place that recognizes and safeguards its particularities and cherishes its differences.

This is the rare Italy that exists off the beaten tourist tracks, a land of archaic traditions and ancient legacies, the land of a new generation and long-standing passions. A land of booksellers, explorers, valorous soldiers and illustrious intellectuals, extraordinary women infused with inventiveness, courage and perseverance. A land of farmers, millers, innkeepers and shepherds that to this day still believe in the value of their earth.

A border territory that is just waiting to be discovered and to conquer your hearts: you might ask yourself where you've ended up, you might feel lost while you're walking up steep country pathways in search of a castle. There are hidden points where you might be astonished that your phone still has reception - or you might thank God that your mobile service is down.

You will be swept off your feet by natural views of rare and enthralling beauty that will make you delve deep into your memories in quest of similar landscapes, experiencing adventures and the unexpected just a few kilometers away from the unwinding highway. You will discover the surprisingly modern forms of prehistoric idols, the austere charm of Romanesque parishes, medieval castles that will send your imagination into a frenzy, Renaissance forts, welcoming and prosperous towns, abandoned settlements in the woods, fishing villages. From up on the hills, your eyes will feast on the sea, while from the seaside your glance will embrace the vast spectacularity of the hills.

In less than an hour, you will encounter chestnut groves and the typical Mediterranean scrub, deep caves and high peeks. Like a diviner in search for water, you will discover the refreshing and abundant source of a thousand-year history, an incessant flow that will spin you into the weave of your own personal narrative. Your very own tales of Lunigiana.

Source: Trame di Lunigiana

• Language: English
• Publisher: Massimo Conti
• Release date: Oct 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370358441

Massimo Conti

Massimo Conti B. 1967 | Photographer since 1990 After a workshop with Elliott Erwitt - photographer of the renowned Magnum Agency - Massimo Conti opened a commercial studio and began working as professional photographer. The first creative works developed in the early nineties concern the music industry. Afterwards, in 1994, he was appointed by the publishing house Electa (Mondadori group) as curatorship of the biographical work on the Japanese architect Kenzo Tange. In the following years he will handle commercial works as well as studies and personal researches that years later will lead him to found the “Massimo Conti Factory”, a professional team of artists and creative people able to provide any kind of communicative demand. Today MCF offers a number of services ranging from the study of the image to the development of the brand including limited editions of books and catalogues.

Book preview

CULTURE AND TERRITORY IN LUNIGIANA

An astonishing journey between Tuscany and Liguria

Smashwords Edition

Published by:

Massimo Conti

© Copyright 2017 - Fondazione Italiana Accenture | Trame di Lunigiana

All Rights Reserved.

This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author, except for brief quotations embodied in reviews. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect is appreciated.

Texts by: Trame di Lunigiana

Editing by: Massimo Conti, Andrea Bettinotti

Cover by: Massimo Conti

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INDEX

CULTURE AND TERRITORY IN LUNIGIANA

Apuan Alps Regional Park

Love for flavour

Tailored for family

Body and Soul

History and traditions

Statue Stele Lunigianesi Museum

The Equi Caves

Printing Museum

Campocecina Meadows

Pisciarotta Waterfall

Farfarà Waterfall

Green Lake

Giaredo Gorges

Frignoli Botanic Garden

The Academy of Fine Arts

Malaspina Castle in Carrara

Marble Museum

Moneta Castle

Toponyms

Piazza Alberica

Piazza del Duomo

Piazza delle Erbe

Sant’Andrea Cathedral

Madonna del Mirteto Sanctuary

Marmifera Railway

Cesare Vico Ludovici Public Library

Museum of San Caprasio

Natural Science Museum of Lunigiana

Capuchin Convent in Pontremoli

La Rosa Theater

Ponticello

VILLAGES

Ameglia

Arcola

Aulla

Bagnone

Bibola

Bocca di Magra

Borgo del Ponte

Caprigliola

Caprio

Castelnuovo Magra

Castevoli

Colonnata

Comano

Fivizzano

Fosdinovo

Gragnola

Groppoli

Lerici

Licciana Nardi

Lusuolo

Malgrate

Montemarcello

Montereggio

Mulazzo

Nicola

Ortonovo

Pallerone

Podenzana

Pontremoli

Ponzanello

Ponzano

Quercia

Regnano

San Terenzo

S. Stefano di Magra

Sarzana

Sassalbo

Tellaro

Tendola

Torano

Treschietto

Vezzano Ligure

Villafranca

Vinca

Zeri

CASTLES IN LUNIGIANA

Aghinolfi Castle

Ameglia Castle

Arcola Castle

Bastia Castle

Brunella Castle

Vescovi di Luni Castle

Castevoli Castle

Comano Castle

Dell’Aquila Castle

Filattiera Castle

Firmafede Fortress

Fosdinovo Castle

Lerici Castle

Malaspina Massa’s Castle

Malgrate Castle

Monti di Licciana Castle

Piagnaro Castle Pontremoli

Podenzana Castle

Pontebosio Castle

San Terenzo Castle

Sarzanello Fortress

Verrucola Castle

Virgoletta Castle

CULTURE AND SEA IN LIGURIA

Vezzano Ligure's Pentagonal Tower

Botanical Garden of Montemarcello

Barbazzano ruins

Blue Bay

Bocca di Magra Roman Villa

Fiascherino Beaches and Cliffs

Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto Islands

The Magra River

The Southernmost Magra River Protected Area

Venere Azzurra

Luni

Luni’s Amphiteater

Luni’s Museum

The Gulf of Poets

San Rocco's Tower and Oratory

Punta Corvo

TYPICAL PRODUCTS

Antica Pasticceria degli Svizzeri

Birra del Moro Brewery

Cantine Belmesseri

Cantine Lunae

CULTURE AND TERRITORY IN LUNIGIANA

Apuan Alps Regional Park

Even if Lunigiana isn't a huge region, its territory is comprised into several parks, among which there's the Apuan Alps Regional Park, an important institution working fot the protection and promotion of the Apuan natural landscape, a unique territory characterized by one of the most peculiar marbles in the world.

The park was founded in 1985 and includes the provinces of Massa Carrara and Lucca from Lunigiana to the nearby Garfagnana. In its severe, yet green territory have found shelter many endangered species as the royal eagle, the wild mouflon, the european wolf, the biancone and the gracchio, a particular species of alpine chough. The flora is extremely diverse, from a more mediterranean vegetation on the seaside, to a more alpine one in the interior.

The Apuan Alps are one speleologists' heaven: with hundreds of caves to explore but they do also are one incredible breathtaking set in which nature and humankind have danced together around the white marble for centuries.

The main visit center is situated in Equi Terme where you'll also find the Apuan Geo Lab Museum so to better discover this unique enviroment.

Love for flavour

There are more gastronomic clans in Lunigiana than there were members of Italy’s coalition government in the 1980s, and even more than all its castles and villages put together. There is no one way to make a torta d’erbi (savory vegetable pie), or at least there is no agreement on how it should be cooked or what it should be filled with. In Filattiera they call it la torta che piscia (the pie that pees) because it’s so full of olive oil; in Bagnone they cook the vegetables in water; in Pontremoli they leave them to wilt under salt. Not to mention the controversy over other local dishes such as the spongata or the testaroli.

But isn’t this Italy’s treasure? Aren’t these countless culinary areas what make Italy’s cuisine so unique, along with the conversation you can enjoy at the table?

This is Lunigiana, a borderland where the traditions of Liguria meet those of Emilia and Tuscany, where the mountain pastures provide rare varieties of aromatic herbs and the fields on the valley floor are fertile with orchards, vineyards, and vegetable gardens that tempt both us and the bees. In this territory, where traditions date back thousands of years, where the poverty of the past centuries sharpened cooks’ wits, and where today’s rediscovery of local traditions has revived seed and grape varieties, as well as farming and breeding techniques that had almost been abandoned: here, cooking is in excellent health. Simple but tasty, it boasts honey, DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) chestnut flour and olive oil, DOC (Controlled Designation of Origin) wines, local varieties of apples and plums, delicate meats and excellent cheeses. There is an enogastronomic heritage - made up of products, but most of all of producers – to get to know and love in Lunigiana.

Tailored For Family

To choose a family destination is no easy task: nature, art, culture, food, mystery, sport, adventure, discovery, relax… the ideal destination for a family vacation has a combination of all of it, and maybe a little bit more. And that’s what make Lunigiana ‘tailored for family’.

From the discovery of prehistoric traces in the Grotte di Equi to the spooky encounters with the Castles’ ghosts and the fascinating legends sprouting from this land, Lunigiana is able to get to kids’ and adults’ imagination allowing them to get lost into its narrow streets chasing the werewolf of Pontremoli or the annoying buffardelli spirits.

You can’t really discover Lunigiana without entering its Castles - or sometimes what remains of them - : their walls bear tales of battles, they tell the stories of young lovers and bloody aristocrats, they are the perfect setting for historical reenactments and do host educational/adventurous workshops for all ages.

But Lunigiana is first and foremost nature: breathtaking landscapes, parks to explore and trees to climb.

Body and Soul

It is said that to find oneself, it is necessary to find the right balance between body and soul. Some do take up on Faith, others use meditation or outdoor activities, some do climb mountains, others get lost in the sea's thin blue line; and if the Romans used to say mens sana in corpore sano- healty mind in healthy body -, what does really matter to us is to be able to get in touch with those elements capable to put ourselves at ease, even if for just one intense moment, one intense week-end.

Body and Soul could mean to hike over the top of the Sagro Mountain to witness the first lights of dawn coming over the Apuane Alps and the Appennines and spraying the sea underneath with colors, it could mean to walk through the pilgrims' ancient routes onto Sigerico's footseps along the Via Francigena, it could mean to enter a Thirteenth Century Parish or venture into the woods towards a hidden hermitage. In Lungiana, Body and Soul means to be able to slow down the pace, dive into thermal waters and set the mind at ease.

And this is what we want to share with you.

History And Traditions

The first traces of humans in Lunigiana date back to the Paleolithic Age, while the Bronze Age marked the first Stele Statues, anthropomorphic sculptures whose iconography is found everywhere in this area, even on supermarket and road signs, but that we know almost nothing about.

The Apuan Ligurian people resisted against the Romans for eighty years, but finally fell. In 177 BC the Romans founded the colony of Luni, conquering the land, marble and sea of Lunigiana. The spread of Christianity dates back to the Apostolic Age, but this territoryís pagan roots must have been very deep if the Longobards of the 5th and 6th Century AD were still fighting its idols.

The defeat of the Longobards by Charlemagne brought the investiture of the Obertenghi as feudal lords. The Malaspina that descended from them were the (almost) undisputed lords of Lunigiana until Napoleon, despite various troubles over the centuries: internal divisions between the two branches of the Malaspina family, the Spino Fiorito and the Spino Secco; the division of the territory into hundreds of small feuds; the rivalry with the Bishops of Luni, with whom they signed a peace treaty initialized by Dante Alighieri in Castelnuovo Magra in 1306; and the constant threats by the surrounding powers who took turns conquered its territories, including Florence, Genoa, Parma, Lucca and Milan. The Via Francigena and the many other roads that crossed it made it an enticing conquest.

In 1844, after the Napoleonic era, there were three Lunigianas: one assigned to the Duchy of Parma, with Pontremoli and Bagnone; one under the Duchy of Modena, with Fivizzano, Aulla, Licciana, Massa and Carrara; and one consigned to the Kingdom of Sardinia, with Sarzana, La Spezia and Val di Vara. Its current borders with Tuscany, Liguria and Emilia do not reflect this territoryís complexity and cultural hybridization.

Traces remain of its strategic importance until the 1900s, when it was the scene of new fights of resistance [Link to Linea Gotica]. Its vestiges remain in the Cisa Pass, with its ancient road that sees many motorcycles today, but that was once an economic and trade hub for the entire peninsula.

On the great stage of history, Lunigiana has witnessed the stories of its lords and vassals, its millers and farmers, its peddlers and marble workers, its most enlightened people and its mysteries that still linger, between legend and popular tales.

Statue Stele Lunigianesi Museum

The word unknown is frequently associated to the town of Pontremoli and to its castle, usually when talking about myths and legends; altough there's one topic for which the word unknown does not rhymes with mistery and thats's when talking about the people of stone 'living' inside the Piagnaro Castle.

They are the Stelae Statues, anthropomorphic paleoarcheological relics which origins are still partially unbeknownst. Their history goes back thousands of years ago and some of the most ancient ones date back to the bronze age - between the 3rd and 1st millennium b.C. These stelae are unique in the world.

How do they look like? Of which material