Tuscany · Massa-Carrara
Mulazzo
A Malaspina fief in the Lunigiana hills where Dante stayed in 1306, with a frazione of booksellers who walked their wares across Italy.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Mulazzo is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia, Cittaslow and Città del Miele.
The nearest town with a letter is Fivizzano, No. 7, 21 km away.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 20 min from Parma
- Population
- 2,309
- J10°
- F12°
- M14°
- A16°
- M20°
- J24°
- J28°
- A28°
- S24°
- O19°
- N14°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Mulazzo sits in the Lunigiana, the corner of Toscana that bends north toward Liguria and Emilia. The centro storico holds the tower and the parish church at the top of its stepped streets, the marquisate's old seat of power made physical in stone. Three kilometers up the ridge, reached by climbing further into the hills, sits the frazione where the booksellers once lived, a separate settlement bound to the centro by the same ridge line but carrying its own, later history: villagers who left in the nineteenth century with panniers of books on their backs to sell across central and northern Italy.
Ten kilometers off in the other direction, in Castevoli, a ruined castle marks where a separate branch of the family held its own patch of the same fiefdom. The town's two settlements, the medieval seat and the book-trading frazione, describe a place shaped less by one center than by a hierarchy of them spread along a ridge, each with a distinct trade in memory: rule from above, books carried out on foot, stone left standing here and reduced to rubble there.
How to get there
From Pisa (PSA), about 1 h 46 min by car.
Genoa (GOA) is about 2 h 5 min away.
By car from the center of Parma 1 h 20 min or Pisa 1 h 37 min.
Coming by train into Parma? Mulazzo is about 1 h 17 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Pisa airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Torre di Dante
Medieval tower at the head of the borgo, once six stories and thirty meters. Demolished down to a sixth of its original height around 1750, what stands now is the stump of a much larger structure.
Montereggio
Frazione three kilometers up the ridge, the only Italian member of the International Organisation of Book Towns, in honor of the village's bookselling diaspora.
Centro Studi Alessandro Malaspina
Inside the tower, a study center of documents and materials tracing the navigator's charting of the Pacific coast for the Spanish crown.
Castello Malaspina di Castevoli
Ruined castle in the frazione of Castevoli, ten kilometers from the centro, held by a separate branch of the same Lunigiana fiefdom.
Centro storico
Stone medieval village on a Lunigiana ridge, with narrow stepped streets converging on the tower and the parish church.
Living here
Could you live here?
Mulazzo is at the end of the road.
- A village of 2,309. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Pontremoli, is 29 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- La Spezia, a city of 92,706, is 1 h 1 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 2,309, down 6.4% since 2015
- Nearest city La Spezia, 1 h 1 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Pontremoli, 11 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €650 to €950 per m² to buy
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 77% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Parma airport (PMF), 1 h 25 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Florence, 2 h 23 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
10% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and Tunisia, against 9% across Italy. 42 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly Germany, the United Kingdom and France. There are 417 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 57% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Massa-Carrara province ranks 64th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Pontremoli, 11 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Parma, 63 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in La Spezia, 24 km away. The nearest IB school is The International School in Genoa, 71 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.8% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Tuscany spends about €2,410 a month, €540 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €770 a year for water, on the Tuscany average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. 8% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 9% in a high or medium one. 12% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
MALASPINA
Imperial fief of the Malaspina from 1164, the seat of the Moroello branch, with Dante a documented guest of the family in 1306.
MONTEREGGIO
Frazione three kilometers up the ridge, the only Italian member of the International Organisation of Book Towns, in honor of its bookselling tradition.
ALESSANDRO MALASPINA
Eighteenth-century navigator who mapped the Pacific coast of the Americas for the Spanish crown, born into the Mulazzo branch of the family.
PROTECTED PRODUCTS
The commune lies inside the Farina di castagne della Lunigiana DOP, Miele della Lunigiana DOP and Toscano IGP production zones.
Common questions
- What is Mulazzo known for?
- Mulazzo is a Malaspina fief in the Lunigiana hills where Dante stayed in 1306, with a frazione of booksellers who walked their wares across Italy.
- Where is Mulazzo?
- Mulazzo is a comune in the province of Massa-Carrara, in Tuscany, at 351 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Mulazzo?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Parma (PMF), about 1 h 25 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Parma to Mulazzo?
- About 1 h 20 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Mulazzo?
- Best in Apr–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 18 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Mulazzo?
- Stazzema, Murlo and Campo Ligure.
- How many people live in Mulazzo?
- 2,309 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Mulazzo a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Mulazzo is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Pontremoli, is 29 min away. The nearest city, La Spezia, is 1 h 1 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Pontremoli, 11 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 77% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 351 m
- Population: 2,309
- Surface area: 62.51 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Mulazzo appears in
- The prettiest villages that live slowly in TuscanyTuscanyprettiest villagesslow living6 towns · smallest 2,309 residents
- The best towns known for what they grow within two hours of PisaNear Pisawithin 2 hoursproduce zone7 towns · smallest 2,309 residents · closest 70 min away
- The 9 best hill towns that live slowly in TuscanyTuscanyhill townslow living9 towns · smallest 2,309 residents
- The best hidden towns that live slowly in TuscanyTuscanyslow livinghidden9 towns · smallest 1,829 residents
- The best olive oil towns within two hours of ParmaNear Parmawithin 2 hoursolive oil zone10 towns · smallest 2,309 residents · closest 80 min away
Near here, with a letter
- Written about. No. 7.
Fivizzano
Province: Massa-Carrara
The draw here is not the capoluogo but its 92 mountain frazioni, scattered across a Lunigiana commune where a thermal gorge, an intact fortress and a ridge-top hamlet each stand as their own destination.
21 km away
- Written about. No. 8.
Fosdinovo
Province: Massa-Carrara
The southern Lunigiana stronghold at 500 meters, the Malaspina castle where Dante took shelter in 1306 and later set a Purgatorio canto.
23 km away
- Written about. No. 20.
Sarzana
Province: La Spezia
The unofficial capital of the Lunigiana on the Magra plain, birthplace of Pope Niccolò V.
24 km away
Our guide
Our nearest guide, 27 km away
Riviera di Levante: the towns, when to go, how to get there
The Riviera di Levante guide came out of the letter. Letters from the towns we visit. Free.
Read the guide: The coast in the shadow of five villages. 19 towns, the drive and train times, the months, where to eat and sleep.
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.