Duchy of Massa and Carrara - History

History

The original core of this territory was officially created on 22 February 1473 with the purchase of the Signoria of Carrara (villages of Carrara, Moneta and Avenza) by the Signoria of Massa by the Marquis of Massa Iacopo Malaspina, which was obtained by count Antoniotto Filoremo of Genoa, head of the Campofregoso family line of Milan. The noble title of Malaspina then became the Marquis of Massa and lords of Carrara.

Originally the home of Malspina was in the town of Carrara but, as a result of frequent clashes with the French invaders which often occurred in the city, the marquis moved to the city of Massa.

Within two generations the family Malaspina exhausted the male descendants and Ricciarda Malaspina, granddaughter of Iacopo and last direct heir of the house, got married in 1520 with a Lorenzo Cybo, member of an influential Genoese family of principles related to the Medici and with Pope Innocent VIII. From this marriage originated the new house of Cybo-Malaspina.

Under his rule the land went through a very prosperous period, thanks to the favorable conjunction market of marble, which was highly requested by the Renaissance courts of the time. Alberico I, aware that its territory was surrounded by more powerful and influential neighbors than he, decided to submit to the Holy Roman Empire of Charles V (1554). Due to cultural and economic achievements under the government of Alberico I, the city of Carrara was awarded the title of marquisate in 1558. In 1568 Massa was elevated to a principality by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II.

In 1664 the territory of Massa became a duchy and Carrara became a principality. The Cybo-Malaspina gained the title of Dukes of Massa and Princes of Carrara.

In 1738 Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina, the last descendant of the family, married Ercole d'Este, the last male heir of the Duchy of Modena. Their daughter Maria Beatrice Ricciarda d'Este thus received the government on both territories, which anyway remained separate state entities until her death.

In 1796 the Este were deprived of their possessions by the invasion of Napoleon Bonaparte's troops. Napoleon annexed the territory to the Cispadane Republic, then merging it in the Cisalpine Republic.

During this time the territory was briefly fought between Napoleon and the Austrian anti-French coalition (1799), and experienced a rapid succession of different administrative systems more or less provisional (Department of the Apuan Alps, Imperial and Royal Provisional Regency of Massa Carrara, then again Department of the Apuan Alps and finally District of Massa).

As a final administrative change, in 1806 the French emperor gave the Duchy of Massa and Carrara to the Principality of Lucca and Piombino, ruled by her elder sister Elisa Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic domination Mary Beatrice was forced to take refuge in Vienna at the court of her husband, the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria-Este, uncle of Emperor Francis I of Austria.

With the fall of the Napoleonic regime, the Congress of Vienna reassigned to Mary Beatrice all the territories that had been subtracted. At that time the Duchy of Massa and Carrara included the territories of Massa and Carrara, Aulla, Casola in Lunigiana, Comano, Filattiera, Fivizzano, Fosdinovo, Licciana, Montignoso, Mulazzo, Podenzana and Tresana.

In 1829, at the death of Mary Beatrice, the Duchy of Massa and Carrara was annexed to the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, by his son Francesco IV d'Este.

In 1859, with the deposition of Francesco V d'Este, the Duchy of Modena and Reggio (which also includes the territories of Massa and Carrara) was permanently attached to the Kingdom of Sardinia, with the formation of province of Massa-Carrara in December 1859.