Massa

Massa sits where the marble mountains come down almost to the sea. Behind it the Apuan Alps rise steeply, white with quarries; in front, a few kilometres of plain run down to the beaches of Marina di Massa. On a hill above the old town is the castle of the Malaspina, who ruled here for centuries.

It’s off the usual tourist path, which is part of its appeal. I don’t know Massa as well as the towns near Pescia, so this page sticks to the facts and to what’s useful for a visit. Here’s my guide to the town and the villages of its comune.

Massa quick facts

• Province: Massa-Carrara (Massa is the provincial capital)
• Population: 65,547 for the whole comune (ISTAT estimate, 1 January 2026)
• Altitude: about 65 metres in town, up to 1,891 metres on Monte Tambura
• Station: Massa Centro, on the coast line
• Lucca: about 48 km by road, roughly 40 minutes
• Pisa: about 57 km by road, roughly 45 minutes

Visiting Massa

A short history of Massa

For most of its history Massa belonged to the Malaspina family, and then to the Cybo-Malaspina, who ruled the small Duchy of Massa and Principality of Carrara. The old town, Massa Vetere, grew up on the slopes below the castle.

In 1557 Alberico I Cybo-Malaspina began a new circuit of walls that joined the old town to the village below and turned Massa into a planned little capital, with new squares, streets, churches and the Palazzo Ducale. Massa was made a city in 1620.

Later the duchy passed to the Este of Modena, in 1829, and in 1859 Massa joined the Kingdom of Sardinia, on the way to a united Italy. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Marina di Massa grew into a seaside resort, with Liberty villas among the pines.

What to see in Massa

The Castello Malaspina. The castle on the hill above town, the old fortress of the Malaspina, with views over the whole plain to the sea. The walk up from the centre is steep but short.

Piazza Aranci. The main square, in front of the Palazzo Ducale. In Napoleon’s time his sister Elisa Baciocchi had the church that stood here pulled down and planted the square with a double row of orange trees, which are still there, round an obelisk later joined by four lions with fountains.

The old streets. Via Alberica, Piazza Mercurio and the lanes of the 16th-century town, with churches and palazzi built under the Cybo-Malaspina.

Marina di Massa. The seaside part of the comune: a long sandy beach with beach clubs, a seafront road and Liberty villas among the pines.

For the beaches, see my guide to the Versilia beaches. For a day on the trains, the coast line runs north from here to La Spezia, and on to the Cinque Terre.

The villages of Massa

The comune of Massa climbs from the sea to the top of the Apuan Alps, and its mountain villages are the surprise. Antona, Altagnana, Casette and the others sit in the valley of the Frigido and on the slopes above, with chestnut woods, old mule tracks and marble everywhere. Antona was the centre of a revolt against the new Italian state in the years after unification.

Down on the plain, the frazioni run together towards Marina di Massa and the coast. If you like mountain villages, the Garfagnana is on the other side of the Apuans.

All the villages of Massa (34)

Al Santo, Altagnana, Antona, Bargana, Bergiola, Bergiola Maggiore, Bozzone, Caglieglia, Campareccia, Canevara, Casania, Casette, Castagnara, Fornello, Forno, Gronda, Guadine, La Partaccia, Marina di Massa, Mirteto, Ortola, Pariana, Poveromo, Prati della Ciocca, Quercioli, Redicesi, Resceto, Ricortola, Romagnano, Ronchi, San Carlo Po, Serretta, Tombara, Turano

For the neighbouring towns, see Villages of Massa-Carrara province.

Food and festas

Massa’s cooking mixes the mountains and the sea. At Easter there’s torta di riso, the rice tart that’s the symbol of Massa cooking. Tordelli massesi, stuffed pasta, are the feast-day dish. From the chestnut woods come castagnaccio, a flat chestnut-flour cake with pine nuts, raisins, orange peel and rosemary, often eaten with sheep’s ricotta, and necci, chestnut-flour pancakes.

Casette has its own ring cake, the ciorchiello, with pine nuts, sultanas and aniseed. The local wine is Candia dei Colli Apuani, a DOC grown on the steep slopes above the coast, and there’s pecorino massese from the local breed of sheep.

The patron saint is St Francis of Assisi. For festivals in the area, see sagre month by month, and for markets, Tuscany market days.

Where to stay

Marina di Massa is the place for a beach holiday here, with the mountain villages a short drive inland. For the bigger picture, my where to stay in Tuscany guide weighs up villages, towns and agriturismi, and where to stay near Lucca and the Svizzera Pesciatina covers my old patch.

Useful numbers

In any emergency, call 112. The main hospital for the province is the Ospedale delle Apuane, Via Enrico Mattei 21, Massa, with a 24-hour Pronto Soccorso (A&E).

Every other number you might need, from the doctor to the train strike line, is in my useful numbers in Tuscany post.

Map

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Massa is one of the towns of Massa-Carrara province. See Massa on the Massa-Carrara page, or browse all of Villages of Tuscany.

Susan x

Photo credits: The Castello Malaspina above Massa (photo: Pepemanuele, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons); The Duomo of Massa, seen from Piazza Aranci (photo: Chriturba, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).