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This might be of interest to you. I found it at
an Italian Tourism Web Site.
Verrucola Castle
Fivizzano
The magnificently fortified hill
called the Verrucola, situated between
the Mommio stream and the Collegnago
canal, dominates the route leading from
the Magra River Valley to the mountain
passes of the western Lunigiana and the
planes of Parma and Reggio Emilia
beyond. As far back as 1044 there are
records referring to the existence of this
"caminata domini Bosonis" , the fortified
residence in which, prior to the
ascendancy of the Malaspina, the noble
Bosi family had estabilished the seat of
their dominion.
Vestiges of the original structures remain
unmistakable in the arrangement of the
imposing central keep, built in the manner
of the classic tower houses of the High
Middle Age, as well as in several
south-eastern sections of the encircling
wall.
In the mid 14th century, with the advent of
the seigniory of the Marquis Spinetta
Malaspina, the castle took on the
dimensions and appearance visible today:
the support towers of the central donjon
(or keep) were built, and the perimeter
walls completed. The collapse of the
domination of Spinetta, the disastrous
earthquake of 1481 and the progressive
assertion of the political and mercantile
power of Fivizzano, a city within the
Florentine sphere of influence,
all combined to determine the gradual
decline of Verrucola. The ancient fortress
eventually lost all strategic importance;
one sign of which was the use of its
south-western wall as a supporting
structure for construction of the Church
of Santa Margherita, with its graceful and
harmonious renaissance arcade. Today
the castle belongs to the sculptor Pietro
Casccella, whose atelier has become a
site of prime interest to travellers.
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