Inhabitants in 1991: 2.632
The
municipal territory of Mulazzo extends for 62,64 square kilometres in
the high Lunigiana, in a mountainous zone, and precisely on a spur of
Monte Cornoviglio. It had its origins as a centre of Lords.
From the XII century it was possessed by the minor branch of the
Malaspina the so called dello Spino Secco, Mulazzo became capital
in 1221 of a Lord area comprising the land to the left of the Magra.
Franceschino Malaspina and his small but vivacious court were almost certainly
hosts to the exile Dante Alighieri, who in the name of the Marquis
negotiated with success the peace with the Bishop of Luni. His stay in
the impressive natural scenery of the little centre must have prompted
a deep fascination in the Fiorentino poet, of which we can recognise the
echo in some Verses of the Divine Comedy. In 1406 the Marquis Azzone
enlarged the territorial borders acquiring several concerns from Campogregoso
di Sarzana; at his death however the inheritance was divided among his
three sons and the dynastic events of the successive generations contributed
to reduce even more the surface of the dominion, which in XVI century
had by now gravitated decisively into the political orbit of Firenze.
The last Marquis was Azzo Giacinto III a radical noble who received the
Napoleonic army by raising the three coloured flag on the tower of the
castle. The fate of the little State was however marked: included in
the Cisalpina republic and then in the Italico Reign, in 1815 it was assigned
to Maria Beatrice d’Este, who in her turn ceded it to her son
Francesco IV di Modena, under whom it remained until 1859. During the
last war, as all the Lunigiana municipalities, it saw tragic times and
participated in the activities of their partisans in the struggle for
Liberation.
Places to visit: Il Torrione, or Dante’s Tower,
that which remains of the Malaspina Fortress, were it seems perhaps
the poet was a guest. |
Historical info reproduced upon authorization of Regione Toscana - Dipartimento della Presidenza E Affari Legislativi e Giuridici
Translated by Ann Mountford |