 ulture in the Lunigiana (Tuscany) - Part One
 For lovers of art, history and anthropology, the Lunigiana with its ancient roots offers a lot. Indeed, still today this land conserves tangible signs of prehistoric culture, as well as that of the later medieval period. A centuries long consolidated tradition, rich in various artistic elements, will help you to discover the extraordinary and immense historical universe that we have over our shoulder. The ancient artistic heritage is joined by the modern: indeed, the famous painter and sculptor Pietro Cascella used to lived with his wife Cordelia von den Steinen in Fivizzano: inside the castle of Verrucola there is a permanent exhibition of his works, from which one can deduce the extraordinary skill of the sculptor in “making stone speak”.
Equi, the first place to be inhabited in the Lunigiana, offers with the Cultural Park of the Caves, the Museum and the Archeopark a very interesting pathway through the historical roots of this land. The Archeopark, for instance, was created following the excavations that once more brought to light the Palaeolithic and Neolithic environment. You can walk through and visit small sepulchral caves, huts, enthralling shelters under rocks and very ancient caves: here very interesting activities of experimental archaeology are organised, capable of sending you back to primordial history.
 The Ecomuseum of the Lunigianese Mountain is an organisation system of the naturalistic, historical, architectonic and artistic sites of interest, which has the aim of preserving the traditions and the cultural identity of the local communities. Indeed, with its Ecomuseum the community of Fivizzano has undertaken to look after an environment that is so open, complex and lived in.
Stone quarries, the heart of the town of Fivizzano, bring to light the most important material of this land, with which churches, floorings, fountains, bridges, portals, town walls and gates have been made.
There are many centres that offer a wide range of Romanesque churches, castles and monuments to be discovered: Aulla, Fosdinovo, Pontremoli, Codiponte, Pognana, Cerignano, Alebbio and Vendaso are just some of the many small jewels of history to be lived.
In Aulla, for example, stands the important Abbey of San Caprasio, inside which it is curious to identify the different stages of the building of the church, erected on another dating back to the 9th century. Another famous monument is the severe and powerful fort of Brunella, the strongest war machine built in the Lunigiana; today, having been restored, it is an important tourist attraction. A little beyond, next to a medieval bridge, stands the majestic sanctuary of the Madonna degli Angeli, covered with offerings from all those who entrusted their newborn children to the protection of the Holy Mother.
There are many, many museums in the Lunigiana open all year round, in which objects of historical, artistic, scientific and ethnical interest are collected, ordered and protected. The ethnographical museum of Villafranca, the Museum of the stone statues (steles) in Pontremoli and the Museum of San Caprasio in Aulla are just some of the most interesting in the zone. One of the most fascinating is undoubtedly the Museum of Printing of Jacopo da Fivizzano: indeed, suffice to think that exactly here the first Italian typographic characters were used: classical texts and the Bible have their cradle in the Lunigiana. What is more, in 1802 in the very same place Agostino Fantoni invented the typewriter and for the first time in history «black paper» or carbon paper was used.
The castle of Verrucola dei Bosi, which houses the church of Santa Margherita within its walls, is also a precious example of medieval architecture to admire in all its stateliness.
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