The Via Francigena, also called Francisca or Romea, is not, as one might think, a single road, but is part of a set of routes that from Western Europe, particularly from France (hence the name) descended to Rome, continuing on to Apulia, where there were ports from which ships departed for the Holy Land.
The road existed as early as the 6th century as the primary artery connecting the main Lombard cities. The route crossed the Apennines at the pass of mons Langobardorum, today’s Passo della Cisa, and continued by crossing the Magra River toward Lucca.
It was only after the conquest of Northern Italy by the Frankish king Charlemagne that the road took the name we know today: the Via Francigena, meaning “road that comes from France,” and initially the final destination was Rome, the city where the Pope resided, thus creating a connection between the two powers that guided Europe at that time.
The first detailed description of the route is from 990, the year in which the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sigeric, describes the journey he made on his return from Rome where he had received papal investiture. In this travelogue Sigeric marks 79 stages in the itinerary to Canterbury, with detail on the various points where it was possible to stop, Which is why even today the northernmost point of the Via Francigena is placed at Canterbury.
In 1994 it was declared a “European Cultural Route,” assuming supranational dignity on a par with the Way of Santiago de Compostela.
Today, the Via Francigena is rich in indications for all those who wish, by walking all or part of it, to discover the pleasure of a slow and extremely culturally and humanly enriching journey through the stages that dot it.
A section of the Via Francigena also crosses through the province of Massa-Carrara, crossing the Cisa Pass, in fact, one encounters the town of Pontremoli and then passes into Liguria as far as Sarzana.Coming from Sarzana, the route reaches the archaeological site of the Roman city of Luna (today Luni) on the Magra River plain. Founded in 177 B.C., Luna became an important road junction and port of embarkation for marble extracted from the Apuan Alps and headed throughout the empire. Luni became an important junction from many points of view, for from here, from the port known as San Maurizio, pilgrims bound for Santiago de Compostela could find embarkation. At this point the archaeological park of Luni is worth a visit, where one can see the remains of the city and the museum that preserves artifacts found during excavations. Continuing back to Tuscany, one reaches Avenza, a hamlet in the municipality of Carrara, where it is possible to visit the church of San Pietro, built in the 17th century but already present on the site in the Middle Ages, formerly a place of shelter for pilgrims in transit on the Via Romea, which preserves a splendid 15th-century triptych (the Ringli Triptych by the Master of Sant’Ivo), a wooden crucifix believed to be miraculous and a valuable 19th-century pipe organ. Another site of interest is the so-called Castruccio Tower, the only remaining part of the medieval fortress whose construction can be attributed to Castruccio Castracani degli Antelminelli, the valiant Ghibelline leader who in the years around 1320 was lord of Carrara as vicar of the emperor.
Continuing to follow the Via Francigena, leaving Avenza, we follow a road through the vineyards that cover the hills, admiring wonderful views of the Apuan Alps and the sea, to arrive at the historic center of Massa where the provincial stage ends in Piazza Duomo, where the Cathedral is located.
At this point the Cathedral is certainly worth a visit; dedicated to Saints Peter and Francis, an Italian national monument, it was erected in the late 15th century and has a single nave structure and three valuable 16th-century side altars. The crypt holds the urns of the city’s nobles and rulers. A few steps from the Cathedral, in the central Piazza Aranci, is the Ducal Palace, built from the 15th to the 19th century at the behest of the Cybo Malaspina family. Commissioned by Charles I Cybo Malaspina, it has its core in the part where the exquisite Salone degli Svizzeri and the Ducal Chapel are located, while its present appearance is due to the extension that Teresa Pamphili, Roman princess consort of Charles II, commissioned in the early 17th century from the Carrarese architect Alessandro Bergamini.