Discovering Hidden Gems: Exploring Bastia in the Province of Massa Carrara

Hello dearest friends,

Yesterday, I shared a post about a lesser-known tourist spot in the province of Massa Carrara. I invite you to go back and read that post because the place I am sharing today is also connected to yesterday's spot. It is part of the same municipality, but once again, we are talking about a small hamlet in a small place, which, in my opinion, is worth visiting precisely because these small places hold interesting discoveries.

Today I will talk to you about Bastia, a small hamlet in the municipality of Licciana Nardi, also in the province of Massa Carrara. As the name somewhat suggests, you can already infer that this place was built as a defensive structure for the area. Indeed, historical documents indicate that this place, along with its beautiful castle, was constructed rather quickly because they wanted to build a fortification here to monitor the surrounding valley.

There are many such examples in Italy; perhaps they started with a small castle and then developed the village around it. As I noticed during my walk, even though it was built rather quickly and later modified by the Malaspina family, whom I mentioned in previous posts about this area (as they held most of the fiefs in this part of Tuscany), I must say the houses and the castle are in excellent condition.
I am not sure if the castle is open to visitors; it appears to be the residence of some private individuals, perhaps opened only on certain occasions. Nevertheless, I was able to take some photos of the exterior of this beautiful manor.
Then I descended towards the village, where the houses were built all around, connected by beautiful alleys with numerous steps, where you always have to watch your step.

As you can see in some photos I took, the village offers a beautiful view of the entire valley, which is something I really like about these places. Of course, you need to be lucky enough to catch a sunny day.

I noticed that some people do live in these places, evident from how the houses are decorated, always with classic flower pots that are never missing.
We see these places as peaceful and serene, where life seems to move slowly, but historically, this place was the scene of fierce clashes. These streets surely witnessed bitter battles; first, the Genoese tried to conquer this place, and eventually, the Milanese arrived.

I must say, what I mainly noticed is that the steps are poorly maintained. Nature is gradually reclaiming everything, and from what I could see, very few families live here permanently. In the end, these places require a lot of maintenance, which the residents probably don't undertake.

I hope you enjoyed the photos I shared, and I hope once again to have shown you a place that is off the typical tourist routes.

See you soon in my next post, and I wish you all a good day.