Licciana Nardi, set in the lower Lunigiana area, was inhabited since the ancient times. The village was founded during the XI century. The city name derives from the Latin prper name of person “Lucius” and the specification “Nardi”, added in 1933 in honour of Anacarsi Nardi, patriot of the italian Risorgimento.
The village grew in economic power under the jurisdiction of the Malaspina family, who built there a castle and the city walls.
Among the military fortifications, we have to mention the Monti castle, built around the XII century and become an elegant seigneurial residence in the XVI-XVII century, the Bastia castle, owned by the Malaspinas, and the Terrarossa catle.
The Parish Church of Santa Maria Assunta was built in the XI century and totally refurbished in the XVIII century (in this occasion the orientation also changed). Of the old building, the beautiful Romanesque sandston apse on the side, remains.
the original Romanesque structure of the building was destroyed by the various interventions and subsequent restoration. It contains a priceless work of art: an altarpiece by Angelo Puccinelli, a painter from Lucca of the 14th century.