Descrizione estesa
Questa è l’unica regione a cui Dante guarda con un pensiero affettuoso, addirittura nostalgico, che testimonia un legame profondo: qui in Lunigiana, Dante, uomo che conosce la politica e la diplomazia, partecipò alla celebre Pace di Castelnuovo il 6 ottobre del 1306, concludendo personalmente un accordo con il vescovo-conte di Luni per conto dei marchesi Malaspina del ramo ghibellino dello Spino Secco.
L’orma di Dante non si cancella e viene ricordata a Villafranca attraverso il Parco Dantesco di Malnido, opera dell’artista Luciano Massari (2006).
The square dedicated to the supreme poet preserves some of the most important historical and symbolic elements of the identity of the municipality of Villafranca in Lunigiana.
This is the only area to which Dante looks with affection, even nostalgia, a testimony to a deep bond: it was here in the Lunigiana that Dante, a man who knew politics and diplomacy, took part in the famous Peace of Castelnuovo on 6 October 1306, personally concluding an agreement with the Bishop-Count of Luni on behalf of the Malaspina marquises of the Ghibelline branch of the Spino Secco.
Dante's gratitude to the Malaspina family is also due to this event, and we find it eternally fixed in the eulogy placed at the end of Canto VIII of Purgatory:
"Your honourable people," says Dante to the spirit of Corrado Malaspina the Younger, Marquis of Villafranca in the Lunigiana, "walk alone straight and despise evil ways".
Even Giovanni Boccaccio was not immune to the charm and history of the court of Villafranca. In his Trattatello in laude di Dante, he also wanted to honour Corrado il Giovane, making him and his daughter Spina the protagonists of one of the longest novellas of the Decameron.
Dante's mark is indelible and is remembered in Villafranca by the Parco Dantesco di Malnido, a work by the artist Luciano Massari (2006).
The monument to the supreme poet stands near the bell tower of the church of San Nicolò and the ruins of the Malnido castle. The sacred building, in ancient times a hospice for pilgrims travelling along the Via Francigena, was the seat of the parish of Villafranca until the middle of the 16th century, when this title was transferred to the nearby church of San Giovanni Battista. However, the decline of the church began with the construction of the railway in the last years of the 19th century and was aggravated by the damage it suffered during the bombings of the Second World War. It was demolished in 1968.
The Malnido castle, on the other hand, was built to defend the bottom of the valley on a rocky spur near the Magra river, where it joins the Bagnone stream. The castle controlled the main route of the Via Francigena and the secondary roads coming from Bagnone and Mulazzo. The name of Malnido is mentioned for the first time in 1202, probably because of its function: it collected tolls and protected the village below.
The castle of Malnido, built at the end of the 12th century, contrasts with the Burgundian town of Villafranca, first mentioned in the itinerary of the French king Philip Augustus, who returned from the Third Crusade as Lealville in 1191. The castle was also the seat of the refined court of the Malaspina family of Spino secco, a centre for the diffusion of courtly culture praised by Dante himself in Canto VIII of the Purgatorio: it is very likely that the poet stayed here during his years of exile.