The province of Massa-Carrara ( it, provincia di Massa-Carrara) is a province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. It is named after the provincial capital

Massa Massa may refer to: Places *Massa, Tuscany, the administrative seat of the Italian province of Massa-Carrara. *Massa (river), river in Switzerland * Massa (Tanzanian ward), administrative ward in the Mpwapwa district of the Dodoma Region of Ta ...

, and

Carrara Carrara ( , ; , ) is a city and '' comune'' in Tuscany, in central Italy, of the province of Massa and Carrara, and notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence. Its mo ...

, the other main town in the province.

History

The province of "Massa e Carrara" was born in 1859 from the separation of the

Lunigiana The Lunigiana () is a historical territory of Italy, which today falls within the provinces of Massa Carrara, Tuscany, and La Spezia, Liguria. Its borders derive from the ancient Roman settlement, later the medieval diocese of Luni, which no long ...

and the Garfagnana from the

Duchy of Modena A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a medieval country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between ...

. Originally it was composed of three ''circondari'': I° "Circondario of Massa and Carrara" (a group of seven districts divided in 14 municipalities), II° "Circondario" of Castelnuovo Garfagnana (four districts divided in 17 municipalities), III° "Circondario" of Pontremoli (three districts divided into six municipalities). Until the census of 1861, the province appears as part of ''Compartimento territorial Modena, Reggio and Massa'', but since the census of the population of 1871 it has been counted as part of Tuscany. Later, with the "Regio Decreto n. 1913 of September 2, 1923", the municipalities of Calice al Cornoviglio and Rocchetta Vara were detached from the province and added to the new province of La Spezia. In the same period ("Regio Decreto n.2490 of November 9, 1923") the 17 municipalities of the "Circondario" Castelnuovo Garfagnana were removed from Emilia and assigned to the

province of Lucca The province of Lucca ( it, provincia di Lucca) is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Lucca. It has an area of and a total population of about 390,000. There are 33 ''comuni'' (singular: ''comune'') in the p ...

, in order to compensate for the passage to the new

province of Pistoia The province of Pistoia ( it, provincia di Pistoia) is a province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. Its capital is the city of Pistoia and the province is landlocked. It has an area of and a total population of 291,788 inhabitants (as of 2 ...

of all the municipalities of the

Val di Nievole Val may refer to: Val-a Film * ''Val'' (film), an American documentary about Val Kilmer, directed by Leo Scott and Ting Poo Military equipment * Aichi D3A, a Japanese World War II dive bomber codenamed "Val" by the Allies * AS Val, a Sov ...

. The province of Massa and Carrara was left crippled, waiting for a reorganization. In 1938, the municipalities of Carrara, Massa, and Montignoso joined and became the municipality of Apuania. In the same year, the industrial zone Apuana was instituted, including in relative Consortium C.Z.I.The municipalities of neighboring Versilia and the province assumed the name of a province of Apuania. In 1946, with decree Lieutenant one (Umberto II of Savoia) the new municipality of Apuania was formed, and the province (for error and/or historical ignorance) resumptions the denomination does not date from 1859 when it was "Massa and Carrara" but Massa. This was the name that had been designated to the city of Massa or Massa of Carrara from 1700 until the formation of the Kingdom of Italy (1860), to distinguish it from other homonymous cities. In 2009, both decrees of 1938 and 1946 were abolished, restoring the old name.

Geography and administration

The province covers an area of and a total population of about 200,000.Italian Institute of Statistics
There are 17 ''

comuni The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (singular: ''comune'') in the province.

Government

List of presidents of the province of Massa and Carrara

Economy

The province's economical relevance, once mainly based on the production of the famous white Carrara marble, has now shifted to the importation and fabrication of blocks of marble and granite from all over the world.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Province Of Massa-Carrara M

Massa-Carrara The province of Massa-Carrara ( it, provincia di Massa-Carrara) is a province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. It is named after the provincial capital Massa, and Carrara, the other main town in the province. History The province of " ...