The Magra river traverses Lunigiana, a vast valley in northern Tuscany that stands out for its agricultural and forested mountainous terrain. Here are some things to do in Lunigiana during your vacation.
Lunigiana, a green valley in northern Tuscany
The Ligurian Mountains, the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, and the Apuan Alps bounded Lunigiana. The Francigena route always traversed Lunigiana, dotted with hundreds of fortified settlements, castles, and parish churches. The mysterious Stele Statues, which date back to five thousand BC, are the symbol of Lunigiana. Numerous Stele Statues dot the territory, forming a megalithic sculpting phenomenon exclusive to Italy.
The hills and forests of Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, showcase the well-preserved environment at its finest. Lunigiana’s limestone peaks, caverns, and karst springs, like those at Equi Terme in the Apuan Alps Regional Park, a UNESCO Global Geopark, showcase its beauty. The European Union protects Stretti di Giaredo, among the streams, waterfalls, and canyons of the Magra River. All of this represents things to do in Lunigiana.
The history of Lunigiana
Lunigiana is a historical region in Northern Tuscany, on the border with Liguria and Emilia Romagna. The ancient Roman city of Luni, founded in 177 BC near the mouth of the Magra River, inspired the region’s name. These remains and archeological digs are still visible near the city of Sarzana. Lunigiana has had a strong cultural identity since the Prehistoric Era, as evidenced by the Stele Statues, human-looking stone statues dating from the 14th to 1st century BC. Their function and meaning remain a mystery today. The Piagnaro Castle of Pontremoli houses the collection of stele statues.
Before the arrival of the Romans, Lunigiana was inhabited by a powerful people known as the Liguri Apuani, who were vanquished and deported in the second century BC. The Byzantines and Longobards fought over this territory after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and the Franks later occupied it.
The Middle Ages of Lunigiana
The Middle Ages were a pivotal period for Lunigiana. In fact, over this period, Historic Lunigiana encompassed a large area equivalent to the Diocese of Luni. It encompasses not just the Magra Valley but also a portion of the La Spezia coast and Versilia. At the same time, the Magra Valley played an important role on the way Francigena, the pilgrimage road leading to Rome. It provided a vital commerce and military link between Northern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.
The Obertenghi Marquis family settled in Lunigiana around 1000. Their descendants, the powerful Malaspina family, ruled over this territory for several centuries. They erected numerous castles and fortified settlements as a result of their hereditary law, which divided the family into two branches: Spino Secco and Spino Fiorito.
The Malaspina family
Only the town of Pontremoli, an important commercial hub, remained independent. For many years, the Malaspina fought the Earl-bishops of Luni. They signed the Treaty of Castelnuovo in 1306, with the banished poet Dante Alighieri from Florence serving as their counsel.
In the years that followed, the Malaspina family’s power waned as the major nearby cities, namely Milan, Genoa, and Florence, repeatedly seized control of this strategic territory.
Modern and Contemporary Era
The centuries of modern history have been marked by the so-called Imperial Feuds, or the minor states of the Lunigiana district, who, despite maintaining a vassalage relationship with the empire, fought to retain their autonomy. Napoleon abolished feudalism in 1797.
Lunigiana experienced territorial occupations and partitioning between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Parma, the Duchy of Modena, and the Duchy of Lucca during the nineteenth century. However, the establishment of the current administrative division came only after Italy’s unification. Today, Lunigiana is a smaller territory compared to the historical diocese of Luni, consisting of fourteen municipalities in the province of Massa Carrara, located in the Magra Valley.
Things to do in Lunigiana
With hundreds of fortified villages, castles, and Romanesque churches dotted throughout the valley, Lunigiana is the perfect place to get lost when traveling. Here are some things to do in Lunigiana.
Nature
Lunigiana has a wide range of natural scenery, including the Apuan Alps, the Magra Valley, the Apennines, and the Ligurian Mountains. National Parks and Protected Areas cover 10% of the territory, enhancing and preserving its legacy. The Apennine National Park includes the woodlands and rocky ridge on the Magra River’s left bank. The Apuan Alps Regional Park covers the rugged peaks of the Apuan Alps in eastern Lunigiana. Both provide excellent climbing and trekking options, as well as other things to do in Lunigiana.
ANPILs, or Protected Natural Areas of Local Interest, also designate some wetlands and rivers. The Frignoli Biodiversity Centre in Sassalbo, the Natural History Museum in Aulla, and the karst cave system “Grotte di Equi” all provide fascinating educational programs in the region. Finally, you can see evocative sights like the Stretti of Giaredo Canyon near Pontremoli. Moreover, the Brattello Forest, the Verde Lake in Cervara near Pontremoli, and the Logarghena plains and Caprio Valley above Filattiera are also noteworthy.
Outdoor Experiences
You can explore Lunigiana by walking, cycling, or riding along paths, hamlets, and quieter roads. The territory offers routes at about 2000 meters above sea level. Among other trails, the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage path from Canterbury to Rome, and the Via del Volto Santo, which runs from Pontremoli to Lucca, cross the valley.
Lunigiana is a bike-friendly area complete with defined trails, bike repair shops, and lodging options. There are MTB and e-bike rental centers with family gear and roadside support. There are guided excursions to explore the things to do in Lunigiana on foot, bike, or horseback.
The Via Francigena’s legs in Lunigiana
- Cisa Pass — Pontremoli: 19.3 kilometers with a 2000-meter elevation difference. From the Cisa Pass, where the “door” to the Via Francigena in Tuscany is located, you travel through the woods until you reach the hamlets of Groppodalosio, with its distinctive antique stone bridge, Casalina, and Topelecca. Then you trek uphill to Crocetta Pass. From here, a mule track leads to Arzengio and eventually Pontremoli.
- Pontremoli to Aulla is 27 kilometers long with a 1200-meter elevation difference. This level is both challenging and highly engaging. Some sections are on pathways, while others are on regular roads with limited traffic. Along the trip, you will witness distinctive hamlets like Ponticello, Filattiera, Filetto, and Virgoletta, as well as the fascinating Romanesque pieve di Sorano.
- Aulla to Avenza is 27 kilometers with a 900-meter elevation difference. This level consists primarily of trails that are both tough and visually appealing. As you stroll through the forest, you will come across numerous streams and water sources.
Typical products
Tasting the region’s traditional products is one of the things to do in Lunigiana. Lunigiana has kept its countryside setting and historical customs, resulting in a diverse range of unique products. You can sample and purchase them at local restaurants and farms. Some of these are high-quality items, such as chestnut flour, which accurately reflects the local culture and heritage.
Since ancient times, chestnuts have been abundant in this area, where people still collect, dry, and smoke them in special huts before pulverizing them with sandstone millstones. This product has earned the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) certification. Many different meals, such as bread, pasta, and pastries, utilize chestnut flour.
Honey, wine, and oil
Another high-quality commodity is honey. Lunigiana honey was the first in Italy to receive PDO certification due to the high standards of its production environment. There are two types available: chestnut and acacia, both of which pair well with local sheep or goat cheeses. Wine lovers will also find high-quality wines. For instance, the Val di Magra TGI (typical geographical indication) utilizes local grape varietals like pollera, vermentino nero, durella, and albarola. Again, the DOC (Controlled Designation of Origin) Colli di Luni is known for its red and vermentino wines.
Finally, Lunigiana produces premium extra-virgin olive oil, including the PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) Toscano. There is no question that the local culinary and wine legacy, which includes over 70 typical products, will allow you to fully appreciate the customs and things to do in Lunigiana.
Other Products
Other notable goods include Casola bread, made with chestnut flour; testarolo, a type of thin flatbread cooked in cast-iron molds known as “testi,” and Zeri lamb. All three of these goods have received the Italian “Slow Food” badge for their excellence. Panigacci from Podenzana and focaccette from Aulla, both cooked in traditional clay molds, will also satisfy your taste buds, as will the herb pie, the bean from Bigliolo, and the onion from Treschietto.
Things to do in Lunigiana: a list
Museums and castles
Piagnaro Castle, Museum of the Stele Statues
Stele statues are mysterious anthropomorphic stone monuments found across the Lunigiana region. They are largely of prehistorical provenance (Copper Age, IV-III millennium BC). More than half of them sit at Pontremoli’s fascinating Piagnaro Castle. The museum’s interactive exhibits, archeological artifacts, and detailed information provide a thorough overview of the Stele Statues and their cultural and historical background. For additional details, visit statuestele.org.
Brunella Fortress, Natural History Museum
Giovanni delle Bande Nere, a Renaissance leader and cadet member of the Medici family, erected the Brunella Fortress, which boasts a delightful park. The citadel dominates the medieval city of Aulla and is home to the Natural History Museum of Lunigiana. The display features three collections: botanical, zoological, and mineralogical. The amazing botanical collection contains uncommon plants from the Apuan Alps, core samples of numerous tree species’ trunks, and a collection of local plant seeds. The museum is located at Viale Rimembranza, 4. Phone number: +39 353 383 1233.
Lusuolo Castle, Emigration Museum
Lusuolo Castle is an early medieval stronghold in the same-named hamlet in the Mulazzo municipality. The building is strategically located on a hill overlooking a historic ford of the Magra River. In ancient times, it provided control over the valley bottom and the Via Francigena. For this reason, the castle and fortified village have had a violent past, with riots and constant attacks by the lords vying for dominance in Lunigiana. It belonged to the Malaspina family. It holds the Museum of Emigration of the Tuscan People, which tells the stories of those who departed for faraway countries. The show comprises historical relics and papers, as well as emotionally charged video documentaries.
Casa di Dante in Lunigiana Museum, Mulazzo
The Dante House Museum in Lunigiana depicts the bond that existed between the Divine Comedy poet and Historic Lunigiana. In fact, the museum is located inside a 13th-century tower in Mulazzo, where Dante stayed during his exile from Florence. Numerous instructive cards depict the poet’s relationship with Lunigiana. The Art Gallery and the Historical Library house the most important texts from Lunigiana’s centuries-long Dante studies legacy. The tour features graphic panels, photographs, and documents. Contact information: Mulazzo, Via Pompeo Signorini 2. Call +39 3283875652 or email lunigianadantesca@libero.it. Visits are by appointment.
Malaspina Museum Archive, Mulazzo
The Malaspina Archive Museum, housed in the ancient Malaspina Palace of Mulazzo, sprang from a more than 50-year search for historical and literary data on the Malaspina family of Mulazzo. The collection contains about 9,000 volumes, 600 newspaper titles, and over 25,000 manuscript materials owned or related to the family. The museum has a specialized library with volumes from all over the world and rare publications on the Malaspina family, two permanent displays, and an exhibition of noteworthy memorabilia.
These documents are particularly fascinating because they feature some of the family’s most renowned women, as well as Alessandro Malaspina (1754-1810), a famous navigator of the eighteenth century. The display also includes maps, books, and articles written by Alessandro during his travels. Alessandro created all of the material during his journey around the world from 1789 to 1794, which includes drawings and paintings of animals, plants, places, and indigenous peoples. Contact information: Piazza Malaspina, Mulazzo. Phone: +39.348.3211636; Email: affarigenerali@comune.bagnone.ms.it.
Ethnographic Museum of Lunigiana, Villafranca in Lunigiana
Among things to do in Lunigiana, the Ethnographic Museum of Villafranca is a must-see. This fascinating museum offers insights into the historical crafts and traditions of Lunigiana’s peasant society, some of which are still in practice today. Three key subject areas arrange the many and diverse materials. The first section covers artifacts from job activities or product transformations related to the house’s spaces.
The collection includes numerous tools for processing chestnuts, dairy products, hemp, weaving, wicker weaving, and winemaking. The second section depicts artisanal activities like wood, iron, and stone processing. The lower floor of the old mill houses agricultural tools and implements, as well as the original mill and oil mill equipment. The Municipal Library’s collection of audiovisual documents, which includes rare digitalized historical photographs, video interviews, and documentaries on Lunigiana culture, enriches the visit route. Address: Via dei Mulini.
Museum of San Caprasio, Aulla
The museum is located inside a 9th-century monastery, which is an important stop on the Via Francigena pilgrimage route. You can view archaeological digs here to gain a deeper understanding of the location’s history. The Abbey of San Caprasio is located on Abbey Square in Aulla (MS). Phone: 0187-420148; email: museo@sancaprasio.it. Daily visiting hours are 9 a.m. to noon and 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Memorial Archives Museum, Bagnone
The museum provides visitors with a totally immersive visual experience as they explore the identity of Lunigiana’s urban and rural societies. The museum’s multimedia tour focuses on the lives of women in Lunigiana through themes of labor and rights from the postwar period to the present. This is to emphasize the socioeconomic challenges that locals have faced since World War II.
Inside the museum, visitors may discover the migration routes used by the inhabitants of Lunigiana, as well as some descriptions of the lives of the so-called “barsane”: Lunigiana women who moved to sell their products in Tuscany and northern Italy. The museum is located in Piazza Marconi 7, in Bagnone.
Audiovisual Museum of the Resistance, Prade di Fosdinovo
The Audiovisual Museum of the Resistance in Fosdinovo houses several audiovisual testimonials of the Resistance war in the Apuo-Lunigian zone as well as the infamous Gothic Line, where partisans and Nazi-Fascist occupiers fought deadly combat. Inside, there are themed visual settings and interactive trails created by Studio Azzurro, an Italian center for artistic experimentation and video creation. It is in the locality of Le Prade, in the municipality of Fosdinovo.
Museum of the Territory of the Upper Aulella Valley, Casola in Lunigiana
The museum at the historic Ambrosi palace in the middle of the village of Casola in Lunigiana collects evidence of the locals’ cultural identity. It showcases the land from many points of view via a thematic tour. The Tecchia di Equi, Tana della Volpe, and Grotta delle Felci sites have yielded prehistoric items from the Middle Paleolithic and Metal Age. We then proceed on to stele statues, castellariums, Roman ruins, medieval capitals, and baptismal fonts from local parishes and churches. Local religious art reflects folk religion. The museum is presently closed.
Eagle Castle, Gragnola
Castle tours are among the things to do in Lunigiana. These are the main manors, but there are many more. Therefore, Lunigiana is also known as the “valley of 100 castles.” Eagle Castle is in a prominent location with the magnificent Apuan Alps in the backdrop. Despite its medieval origins, Eagle Castle has undergone extensive renovations to become a hotel. Restoration work unearthed the skeleton of an ancient knight who met his mysterious demise. Gragnola is a charming village in the municipality of Fivizzano.
Fosdinovo Castle
This is one of Lunigiana’s most beautiful castles and one of the few that is open to the public. The Marquis Malaspina dello Spino Fiorito family owned Fosdinovo castle from the 14th to the 18th centuries, dating it back to the 13th century. Â The complex consists of four round towers, a semicircular bastion, two inner courtyards, patrol pathways above the roofs, hanging gardens, loggias, and a ravelin facing the village of Fosdinovo.
Tour guides will tell you about the ghost of the noblewoman Bianca Malaspina and her mysterious bed in its halls. The guided tour covers the entrance Hall, the Throne Room, the Dining Room, which features a magnificent 18th-century kitchen with 17th-century apothecary pottery, and the huge center Hall. The Ghost Room, with its tales, and Dante’s Room, where the supreme poet slept, are particularly charming and evocative.
Malgrate Castle
Malgrate Castle is a medieval stronghold in the village of Malgrate, in the municipality of Villafranca, Lunigiana. The Malaspina family owned the castle, which dates back at least to the 12th century.
Its grandeur makes the hilltop castle one of Lunigiana’s most beautiful. The complex bears a resemblance to a traditional medieval stronghold, featuring a tower, central keep, and a curtain wall with battlements and patrol pathways. Historically, a moat surrounded the fortress. It’s temporarily closed.
Nature, enjoyment, and wellbeing in Lunigiana
There’s enough things to do in Lunigiana’s natural surroundings.
Equi Caves and Geo-Archeological Park
This archeological park at the foot of the Apuan Alps includes a karst cave, nature walks, and excavations of prehistoric animal and human remains. This building also houses the ApuanGeoLab Interactive Earth Science Museum and the Lucido Valley Labor Museum. Equi Caves and Geo-Archeo Park are located in Equi Terme, a charming village in the municipality of Fivizzano.
Equi Thermal Spa
Equi offers a spa with a swimming pool and thermal treatments. The thermomineral waters of the Equi springs that supply the spa, which the Romans were aware of and frequented, are salty-sulfate-alkaline. Their temperatures range from 17 to 27 degrees Celsius.
Tourist Information
Tourist Information Offices:
- Aulla: at the municipal office in Piazza Gramsci
- Pontremoli: Piazza della Repubblica 3
- Fivizzano: Piazza Garibaldi
- Bagnone: Piazza Marconi
- Filattiera: Centro Pieve di Sorano
- Mulazzo: Arpiola locality at the municipal office in via Liberazione 10/A
Information centers and local product shops:
- Rometta (Fivizzano) Bottega dei Parchi Piazza dei Parchi
- Fosdinovo: Centro Servizi turismo in Piazza P.D. Sauxillanges
Visitor Centers in Tuscan-Emilian Apennine National Park:
- Liccian Nardi: località apella, Agriturismo Montagna Verde
- Comano: Albergo Ristorante Miramonti
- Bagnone: località Treschietto Ostello La Stele.
Visitor Center of the Apuan Alps Regional Park: Equi Terme Via Noce Verde, 57.
Tour Guides
- Lunigiana sostenibile. Tour, nature, and alpine guides provide tourist services in Lunigiana, Apennine National Park, and the Apuan Alps Regional Park.
- Sigeric. Travel specialists and qualified tour, nature, and mountain guides collaborate to offer tourist services in Lunigiana, Via Fracigena, Apennine National Park, Cinque Terre National Park, the Gulf of Poets, the Apuan Alps, and the Carrara Marble Quarry.
In this travel guide, you will find all the tips for visiting nearby Garfagnana.
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