Category: Villages and fortresses
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Like a small nativity scene set against a red marble spur, the hamlet owes its name to the particular pink hue of the stones with which the houses and the church of San Michele are built, a colour that is accentuated in the light of the sunset. The wide grassy terraces that slope down towards [...]
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The Fortress of Mont’Alfonso rises on the top of a hill overlooking the town of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, with a 360 ° view that ranges from the Apuan Alps, with the Panie group, to the ApenNine Tuscan-Emilian. It was built on an pre-existing medieval village, and changed its name from Rocca di Monti to Fortress [...]
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Since the early Middle Ages, the village of Piazza al Serchio developed thanks to its strategic geographical position, on the border between Tuscany, Emilia and Liguria Regions and close to numerous waterways. The presence of several ruins of fortifications reveals its importance, such as the fortress of Castelvecchio, erected to control access from the north [...]
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The village is mentioned in a document dated beck to 952 as a community subject to the parish of Pieve Fosciana. It was the first hamlet in the Garfagnana to make an act of dedication to the Este family of Ferrara, obtaining tax relief, and the strengthening of the defensive walls, in 1429. It is [...]
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Trassilico, in the south of Garfagnana, marks the area on the southern border of the ancient states of Estensi. It has being known since 740, when a certain cleric Lombard, Gunduald, bought a piece of land. Later feud of Porcaresi’s family, who we thought to have built the original fortress, from the 15th century it [...]
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The bell tower of Sassi, which overlooks the provincial road of Arni, is part of a fortified system, begun around the year 1000, which includes the church of San Frediano built, according to tradition, by the Countess Matilde. The fortress, originally belonging to the Porcaresi nobles and later purchased by the Lucchesi, was destroyed in [...]
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The village, the church and the fortress of Ceserana rise on the left bank of the Serchio river, in the southern part of the ancient Este province of Garfagnana. The Church of Sant’Andrea is mentioned in a papal bull of 1168, and although it has been remodelled it retains its Romanesque characters with an apse [...]
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Castello del Leone, the ancient name of this fortified village, still intact and austere, is located in a strategic position to guard the road that leads to San Pellegrino pass, a road connecting to northern Italy. The destiny of Castiglione, unlike most villages of Garfagnana, has been linked to Lucca since 1371, never being under [...]
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Cascio was originally a feud of the Porcaresi family, then, in 1292, it was bought by the Municipality of Lucca which then built a small fortress. With the passage of the property to the Estense Duchy, Cascio became an important center on the border and for this reason, in the 17th century, it was surrounded [...]
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The Rocca was built around the 15th century by the powerful family of Ferrara and is situated on a rocky relief opposite the Fortress of Verrucole, located on the other side of the Serchio. These two mighty strongholds used to oversee the main access road to Garfagnana. It used to be the heart of the [...]
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Rocca Ariostesca is the symbol of Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, it dominates the central Piazza Umberto I and owes its name to the poet Ludovico Ariosto who lived there, from 1522 to 1525, as governor of the Este province of Garfagnana. A small garrison already existed on the spot in the 10th century, but the original [...]
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The fortress of Verrucole has medieval origins, fortified in the Renaissance and inhabited until the most recent centuries. It is one of the most representative monuments of the system of military fortifications of the Este duchy in Garfagnana. The enterprise of the diamond is the symbol of Ercole 1st d'Este (1431-1505), represented by a diamond [...]
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Perpoli, a small hamlet in the municipality of Gallicano, rises on a terraced hill overlooking the river valley of the Serchio River between Castelnuovo di Garfagnana and Gallicano. It has always been a strategic point for overseeing the valley, so much so that it was fortified with a double wall. The first wall, which dates [...]
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