The Castle of Monti di Licciana

A village from ancient times

Monti di Licciana was inhabited since ancient times, as evidenced by the discovery of a stele statue of type B, dating back to the first millennium BC. The stele was found in 1984 and was named Venelia.

The Middle Ages

During the early Middle Ages, the area between the torrents Taverone and Civeglia was owned by the Counts of Moregnano. Later Monti became the full possession of the Malaspina family of Villafranca in 1355 and at the beginning of the fifteenth century formed an independent fiefdom. Attacked and conquered by the Genoese in 1449, he remained 14 years under the lordship of the Campofregoso and then returned to the Malaspina. In 1500 Monti was incorporated into the district of the Marquis Spinetta Malaspina together with Licciana Nardi, Panicale, Bastia, Terrarossa, Podenzana and Suvero. After only 24 years of peace the feud was conquered by the leader Giovanni dalle Bande Nere. Returning to the Malaspina family, in 1638, when the Spinetta died, the fiefdom became divided and Monti became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

Recent times

Anterior changes, in 1700, had already seen the change of orientation. the ancient stone-built apse forms a chapel today. Following the road to the left of the church we reach the medieval castle, surrounded by ancient oaks, born on the intersection of two branches of the Via Francigena. Transformed into a residence with a seventeenth-century facade, the castle still preserves traces of the drawbridge.

How to visit

The stop is included into “Via Francigena on horseback” experience.