Mulazzo

Mulazzo is a destination for you if you would like to combine culture, medieval sites, regional cuisine and landscapes in one stay. The municipality offers unusual points of interest for this purpose: a museum dedicated to Dante, an archive museum of the Malaspina family, a medieval fortification with an emigration museum, and paths around a sanctuary located at an altitude of 1,000 metres.

Museums between Dante and circumnavigation

The Museo “Casa di Dante in Lunigiana” is a cultural institution with a range of uses in Mulazzo. It was established to honour the special relationship between Dante and Lunigiana. Advance reservation is required to visit; currently, visits are possible exclusively in this way. The museum occupies the piano nobile of the last surviving medieval residential tower within the walls of the historic 13th-century village. This means that a visit combines the Dante theme with a specific historic building. The Archivio-Museo Malaspina has two permanent exhibitions. One of them presents material from Alessandro Malaspina’s circumnavigation of the world from 1789 to 1794, including drawings and paintings of animals, plants, places and Indigenous peoples. At the same time, the archive preserves more than 9,000 books, 600 journal titles and over 25,000 manuscripts relating to the Malaspina family. This is particularly interesting if you would like to combine a trip through the region with an in-depth exploration of history, research and voyages of discovery. The Museo dell’Emigrazione della Gente di Toscana is located in Castello di Lusuolo. The castle itself is a medieval fortification in the municipality of Mulazzo. It once controlled the middle Magra Valley and a river crossing. The site thus provides another historical perspective alongside the museum collections: not only individuals and collections, but also the strategic importance of the landscape becomes visible.

Sanctuary, hiking trail and local cuisine

The Santuario della Madonna del Monte is a Romanesque religious building documented since the 12th century. Around 1100, Benedictine monks from the Borzone-Borzonasca Abbey built a monastery and a hospice for pilgrims there. The sanctuary lies within the territory of Mulazzo at an altitude of 1,000 metres. From there, the Via delle Maestà leads towards Montereggio. The hiking trail is characterised by small religious wayside shrines known as “Maestà”. Montereggio di Mulazzo lies on the ridge of Monte Carbone at an altitude of approximately 600 metres. The medieval village of feudal origin is surrounded by old chestnut trees and belongs to the European network of Booktowns. If you are looking for books and village culture in addition to architectural history, Montereggio complements Mulazzo’s museums in its own distinctive way: Montereggio is a specific destination along the landscape described above. Regional cuisine can also be linked to a particular craft. Castagnetoli in the municipality of Mulazzo is traditionally associated with experienced makers of “testi”. These cooking vessels are used for bread, testaroli, Torta d’erbi and potato cakes. Thus, alongside museums and religious buildings, you will also encounter local preparation methods associated with typical dishes of Lunigiana.

Getting there and special events

You can reach the village of Mulazzo by car via the Pontremoli motorway exit and then along 7 kilometres of Provincial Road 31. When planning a stay, you can therefore first decide whether the museums and historic sites or the area around the Santuario della Madonna del Monte and the Via delle Maestà should be the focus. The signs along the Via Dantis are equipped with QR codes and provide an immersive augmented-reality experience with information in Italian and English. Annual events include the “Anteprima Bancarel’Vino”, the “Premio Bancarel’Vino” and the tasting committee meeting. The municipality of Mulazzo sets the dates each year. The municipality also organised the national wine competition “Premio Bancarel’Vino 2024”; this date is part of the event’s history to date and should not be understood as a future date. For further orientation within the wider destination area, you can also discover Malgrate, Pontremoli, Massa, Bagnone, Colonnata and Fivizzano. Gavedo is also available as another nearby destination.

For the wider travel overview: Massa-Carrara.