Castelnuovo Magra was founded between 1187 and 1203, during the war between the Bishop of Luni and the Malaspina Walter, feudal lords of the Lunigiana. With the construction of the first fortifications began the first inhabited, probably the current Borghetto.In the thirteenth century, more and more fights between the Malaspina and the episcopal power. In 1219, Castelnuovo country swore loyalty to the bishop Marzucco and his successor, William, the village was enclosed by walls and built the episcopal palace, transformed into a fortress.
Castelnuovo Magra is a town whose history is closely tied to his castle of Dante Alighieri.On October 6, 1306, established the poet's act of Castelnuovo Peace with Bishop Anthony Earl-Nuvolone by Camilla, in his capacity as prosecutor of the Marquis Malaspina Franceschino Mulazzo, sanctioning, in fact, the end of the temporal power of the Curia Luni. Since then, Castelnuovo became part of the communal life of Sarzana, following the story in the achievements of the nearby town of Castruccio Castracane, the Malaspina, the Genoese, until you get to Napoleon Bonaparte and the unification of Italy. From 1860 to 1923 the town was part of the Province of Genoa and later entered the Province of La Spezia.
PLACES TO VISIT IN CASTELNUOVO.
The parish of St. Mary Magdalene is from the late Renaissance, built in the seventeenth century on the foundations of an earlier building. The church has three naves, divided by twelve columns of white marble from Carrara, perhaps from the ancient cathedral town of Luni.
Inside is a Calvary attributed to Peter Bruegel the Younger, first place in the chapel on the left, with groups of grotesque characters revolving around three crucifixes, against a backdrop of northern Jerusalem. It is one of the copies of a famous crucifixion of Peter Brueghel the Elder, went missing. The second altar on the left, holds a painting of the eighteenth century, dedicated to the patron saint San Fedele, a view that represents the background of eighteenth-century Castelnuovo Magra. In addition, keep Our Lady of Suffrage Fiasella Domenico (1589-1669) and a Crucifixion attributed to Van Dyck.
The oratory of the Whites or the Holy Virgin of the Assumption, built in the late sixteenth century, is located in the "Borghetto", the oldest part of Castelnuovo Magra. It has a single nave, with fine walnut benches belonging to the eighteenth-century wooden choir. The castle of the Bishops of Luni impressive ruins remain, among them the Magna Turris, the former stronghold of the defense system, with a rectangular base and 80 meters high. Built by order of Bishop Henry from Fucecchio the late thirteenth century as a stately home, was transformed into a military fort by the Genoese and the Florentines in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
Front of a fortification, built by Bishop Walter and dating to the founding of the country rose in the Borghetto, probably the oldest part of the concentric structure, which gathered around the castle of Santa Maria disappeared. The name of Castelnuovo revealed the existence of a fortified building front, which was replaced by a "Castrum Novum" as is mentioned in 1203 in the Code Pelavicino.
Having fulfilled its defensive function, the castle gradually fell into disuse and was demolished. Today there are visible the great crenellated tower and the smaller circular tower, connected with the remains of the perimeter walls.
PLACES TO VISIT NEAR CASTELNUOVO.
Lunigiana is a historic region divided between two provinces and two administrative regions. At the north of Tuscany are high and the average Lunigiana, in the province of Massa Carrara, while the low Lunigiana is located in the province of La Spezia, along the last stretch of the river Magra. Its historical borders are much wider, once corresponding to the diocese of Luni, which ruled a vast territory from the Magra valley, the Val di Vara, in the Garfagnana and the Gulf of La Spezia.
The village of Villafranca lies in the valley on the left side of the river Magra, along the road Cisa, at the confluence with the river Bagnone. Its origin is traced around the 'eleventh century, along the road of Mount Bardone, the medieval layout of the Via Romea, which touched the chapel Disan Nicholas and the castle of the Old Malnido Corrado, devastated by the bombings of World War the world.Near the train station is the church of St. Francis of the sixteenth century, characterized by the ancient cloister and monastery that is now used as a high school. Within the-century mill situated at the beginning of the village the other hand, the Ethnographic Museum of Lunigiana that illustrates, through collections of objects of various kinds, habits, customs, rituals and activities of the popular culture of Lunigiana.
Near Villafranca, fillet, were found dozens of stone statues in his forest, sacred forest of pagan gods. Every August 25th, is celebrated with the same name Jenesien fair. In the Byzantine town, Malaspina first, then the Ariberti of Cremona, in August takes place the medieval market, with craft shops, shows and pageants. A Malgrate you can visit the castle, in excellent condition, and the house of Antonio da Faye, a reporter of Quattrocento.Virgoletta hosts one of the finest villages of Lunigiana, dominated dalcastello Malaspina. Following the main road towards the Cisa Aulla Chiesaccia or find the church of Santa Maria Assunta, founded around the twelfth century, and there mains of the hospital, where pilgrims and travelers could wade through the river less problems.
