The Malaspina Castle
At 6 Km of distance from the hotel, reachable in a few minutes, you can admire one of the largest Tuscan fortresses: the Malaspina Castle. Considered almost as an open sky museum due to the various phases of architectural development, the whole complex has been reopened to the public after years of restoration. In the inside 3 main parts are easily recognizable: the fourteen century keep which is constituted by a tall fenced tower and represents the most ancient part of the castle (first mentioned in the year 882) that allowed a view over the lowlands and the coastal area; the Palace residence of the Marquises dated XV century where you can admire the arcade with marble columns, the porch with typical sixteenth-century windows embellished with small balconies and a richly decorated chapel on the ground floor of the building; the mighty town-walls studded of gunners and endowed with 2 bastions at the northern and southern extremities which made the castle become the center of a massive coastal defensive system. Stand to enjoy from the top of the hill, where the castle rises, the view of the coastal panorama.
The Ducal Palace
The Ducal Palace, situated in Piazza Aranci (Square of the Orange Trees), for its greatness and magnificence is the principal and most beautiful monument of Massa, wanted by the prince Cybo-Malaspina to give decorum to his low status and show his dignity to the noble principalities of the Italian '500, and also to transfer the residence of the princely family from the too austere and medieval Malaspina Castle. The original nucleus of the building was built between 1567 and 1570 and expanded in the years to follow to be equipped with the necessary luxuries worthy of the best dynasties of the time. The Swiss Lounge was later conceived which extends the façade of the palace and a lodge was created inside the courtyard that at the time allowed a pleasurable view of the sea. The greatest splendor of the palace is attained around 1670 when the dynasty Cybo-Malaspina awarded the works to the Bergamini, a family of architects that would have characterized the architecture of the dukedom for two centuries. It is a pity that the splendid picture gallery that hosted works of Leonardo, Rafael and Titian has been partly destroyed by the Napoleonic troops.
The Cathedral
The original parish of St. Peter in Bagnara, described as a building of great dimensions and rich of altars, had been an object of continuous attention by the Cybos who entrusted the reconstruction of the temple to the Bergaminis after the collapse in year 1672. The latter had planned the setup and the furnishing of the presbyteral area realizing a monumental major altar and two altars of the transept, besides the marmoreal covering of the walls and the floor. The duke Alberico II established then that the new chapel, behind the right altar of the transept, should become the mausoleum of the lineage.
