The Malaspina Castle was the ancient residence of Massa's rulers until they moved to the Palazzo Ducale around the first half of the XVI century. Its origins are lost in the process of construction of castles in the Early Middle Ages. Certainly enough, the fortress was already present in Massa around the year 1000.

At the beginning, the castle belonged to the counts Obertenghi and had the function of a garrison the Via Piemontana that became particularly important because it linked the most important parishes of the Lunigana after the rising of the morass had cancelled the previous Roman path.
The original nucleus of the building was constituted of the central keep and of the defensive walls, only, because the Obertenghi mainly fought on the sea and were scarcely interested to Massa' territory.
The drawbridge, more towers and the embattled curtain were added later and they are attributed to Castruccio Castracani when he was the governor of Massa for a short time. This leader restructured the palace since he found it in ruins after the assault by Corradino di Svevia who obliged the Obertenghi to escape in 1268.
In the Renaissance times, the stronghold was again changed by Giacomo Malaspina from whom it took its current name. Between 1434 and 1442, the castle was transformed into a real military garrison where the Malaspina went to live and they strictly forbade the construction of built-up areas outside the fortified part of the castle to avoid it could be conquered. At the end of the century, also Charles VIII lived in the castle during his military campaign in Italy.
The following works were influenced by the creation of fire weapons. Therefore, the walls' height and robustness progressively lost importance, while numerous works were made to strengthen its basement. These works continued to be carried out relentlessly until the end of the XVI century. The creation of the South-Eastern "rafter" dates to 1570. It is a bastion erected around the Torre del Pinello, which ruined in 1780, to safeguard it from possible cannonades. The gunners that are still visible on top of the main entrance make part of the last fortification phase carried out in the XVII century.