What is Licciana Nardi known for?

Risorgimento conspirator shot at Cosenza in 1844, his surname added to the comune in 1933. Two surviving Malaspina holdings in the comune, at Licciana and at Bastia, both visitable. Unleavened disks cooked between terracotta plates, the Lunigiana flatbread eaten with stracchino or salume.

Where is Licciana Nardi?

Licciana Nardi is a comune in the province of Massa-Carrara, Tuscany region of Italy, about 91 kilometers from Pisa.

Tuscany · Massa-Carrara

Licciana Nardi

A Lunigiana Malaspina villagein the Apennine Tosco-Emiliano park, named in 1933 for the Risorgimento patriot Anacarsi Nardi.

91 km / 57 mi

Nearest hub (Pisa)

4,709

Population

Apr–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Parco Nazionale

Why come

Licciana Nardi sitsin the eastern Lunigiana, on the slopes of the Apennino Tosco-Emiliano National Park. The town is one of several Malaspina holdings in the valley, with a castle in the centro storico and another above Bastia, three kilometers up the ridge. In 1933 the commune added the surname Nardi to its name in honor of Anacarsi Nardi, one of the Bandiera brothers' co-conspirators, shot by Bourbon firing squad in 1844 after the failed insurrection at Cosenza. The Apennine ridge above the town is part of the national park, with chestnut and beech forests, the Lagastrello pass, and trails connecting Lunigiana to the Garfagnana on the other side. The local plate is panigacci, thin disks of unleavened dough cooked between terracotta plates and eaten with stracchino, salume, or pesto, a Lunigiana tradition shared with Pontremoli and the upper Magra villages.

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Gallery

5 photos · scroll →

Known for

Castello Malaspina di Licciana
Medieval Malaspina fortress in the centro storico, partly inhabited and partly visitable on request.
Castello di Bastia
Smaller Malaspina castle in the frazione of Bastia, three kilometers up the ridge, with a fourteenth-century keep.
Parco Nazionale dell'Appennino Tosco-Emiliano
Chestnut and beech forests on the ridge above the town, with the Lagastrello pass and trails into the Garfagnana.
Pieve di Venelia
Romanesque parish church on the ridge between Licciana and Bastia, one of the oldest in the eastern Lunigiana.
Frazione di Apella
Mountain hamlet on the park boundary, the trailhead for the higher Apennine ridges and the Lagastrello.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October is the season in the eastern Lunigiana. The ridge stays cooler than the lower valley, the chestnut woods are open, and the trails into the Apennine park run from Apella up to the Lagastrello pass. July and August are warm but breezy at altitude. September and October bring the new chestnuts and the smaller sagre across the comune. November through April is quiet. The higher frazioni close some of their hours, the Lagastrello road sees snow, and the panigacci ovens stay lit through winter for the local clientele.