It lies at an extremely important road junction and
has always flourished as a cantre of trade and of top quality craftwork.
It was the crossroads of trade for the Po Valley, the Western Riviera
and the port of Leghorn: olive oil, cereals, vegetables, salt, wine and
spices all passed through its market.
From here, too, the mineral resources of the area were
diffused: gypsum from Sassalbo, kaolin for the factory of the Marquis
Ginori of Doccia, white marble from Equi, stone from the Pognana quarry,
not forgetting coal and the precious wood from its forests.
At Fivizzano, there were iron-factories, paper mills,
foundries, dye-works, printing works and tanneries; it was the residence
of famous jurists, doctors, notaries and men of letters. One of the best
accounts of Fivizzano was that of Prospero Fantuzzi, a singular 19th
century traveler who stopped here, in 1829, on his way to the sea:
"We arrived inside the very elegant Fivizzano. To
anyone into whose hands this manuscript might one day fall, should they
happen on this page, be so good at this point to imagine our state of
mind and share with us our content and the delight that filled our
imaginations upon alighting at Fivizzano.
Having crossed so many mountains, cliffs,
precipices, old towns and villages more fit for wolves than men, we came
across the charming view of the town...where everything was new,
gracious and rich.
We went through the fine gateway into the heart of
the town, surrounded by strong walls...and here we were in districts
where, behind us, stood fine examples of architecture, decorated in
sandstone and marble and, at the start of our tour, the majestic little
palace of the Counts Fantoni, with its garden.
We came to the elegant square, surrounded by tall
three-storey buildings, with a fountain in the middle...in the midst of
the basin rises a spire of marble and rough stones...and four large
well-carved dolphins spurt water from their mouths and to these smaller
basins comes a continual stream of women to draw water, green-grocers to
wash their vegetables, children to play and men to drink...".
The large Medicean square, with the fountain donated
by Cosimo III in 1682, is still today the center of life in Fivizzano,
with the provostal Church, restored after the damage caused by the
earthquake of 1920, the gracious buildings, the seat of the 16th century
Accademia degli Imperfetti, which recalls the intense cultural life of
Fivizzano.
The Fantoni Palace is being restored by an illustrious
contemporary citizen of Fivizzano: the doctor and writer Loris Jacopo
Bonomi.
It will eventually house the Museum of
Printing to recall that Fivizzano was one of the capitals of
this art. Here it was that Jacopo di Fivizzano opened one of the first
printing works in Italy, here the first typewriter was invented and
used, here the Arcadian poet Labindo lived and worked and lies buried in
an elegant small temple, erected near the Town Hall.
The Augustinian complex is well worth a visit with its
library, collection of fine works of art from churches in Fivizzano, the
hostels and, on the outside, the bronze monument realling a native of
Fivizzano, the mother of Niccolo' V, the great Pope who founded the
Vatican Library.
A Pope who never forgot his origins and who gave
Fivizzano the precious tapestry, given to him, in turn, by Siena in 1450
on the Sanctification of St. Bernardino, and which Fivizzano sold to the
Bargello Museum in Florence in 1937.
This has so-often been called "the Florence of
Lunigiana" that it has become a common saying.
You will experience a Tuscan atmosphere if you go
there, for Fivizzano chose alliance with Florence and was under
Florentine captaincy right up to the end of Grand-ducal rule.
You should walk around the ancient walls, built under
Cosimo de' Medici in 1540, the best example of military fortified walls
of their kind in Lunigiana.
Visit the Palace of Arcade Labindo and his tomb and
stop to see the elegant Baroque fountain in the square, built by Cosimo
III in 1683.
Outside the walls, you can visit the old town of
Verrucola, and imposing manor house, built for Spinetta Malaspina the
Great and now the residence of the sculptor Pietro Cascella.
Fivizzano is a noble town of ancient culture: Jacopo
da Fivizzano printed incunabula there and the mother of Lunigiana's
great Pope, Niccolo' V, was born there. Floklore comes to life with the
pageant of the Disfida degli Arcieri di Terra e di Corte (Challenge of
the Ground Archers and the Court Archers) and the Humanist tradition is
preserved and continued in the 16th century Accademia degli Imperfetti.
At Fivizzano, you can also visit the monumental
complex of the Augustinian Monastery and, nearby, the Parish Church of
San Paolo di Vendaso; then there is the old town of Soliera with the
Sanctuary devoted to the Madonna dei Colli ("Madonna of the Hills"),
splendid Gragnola, Vinca, high up in the Apuan Mountains with its
inimitably fine bread, Ceserano, with the farm and vuneyards of Count
Picedi-Benettini.
No true Nature lover should miss a visit to the
Botanical Gardens at Frignoli and the town of Sassalbo.
