Massa e Cozzile in Tuscany

The town of Massa e Cozzile in the province of Pistoia is constituted of two villages: the one of Massa of Roman Origins and Cozzile, of a more recent time. An ancient Roman road that can still be used once linked the two towns. Inside the castle of Massa, it is possible to visit the Romanesque parish of Santa Maria Assunta and the monastery of the Visitazione, while it is possible to admire the Palazzo de Gubertanis in the Castle of Cozzile.

Massa is one of the most ancient villages in the Valdinievole as numerous finds (coins, cinerary urns and epigraphs) discovered in the surroundings show. It is thought that between the IV and the III century, the castle developed as a Roman agricultural centre.
Massa was fortified in the Middle Ages (it is still possible to see the ancient "Porta ai Campi" and "Porta Fontanta") and it was first cited in the XI century together with the castle of Verruca that had existed since before the year 1000 and has been cited in a X-century imperial diploma issued by Otto III.
Cozzile appeared later, but always in the Middle Ages. Even if Massa had its own autonomous statutes since 1208, it has always been ruled by Lucca. Then, it was governed by Florence in 1339 and, together with Cozzile, it was at the centre of the fights between Pistoia, Lucca Florence and Pisa to dominate the Valdinievole.
In the Grand Ducal age, the autonomous town of Massa became a town hall that lasted until the end of the XVIII century. In effect, the "comunitas" of Massa was aggregated to the one of Buggiano after the Leopoldine reforms. The town of Massa e Cozzile only became autonomous after the Restoration of 1814. After the Congress of Vienna that reorganized the dominions of the ruined Napoleonic empire the again ruling Grand Duke conceded the detachment of Massa from Buggiano . Currently, the town has 7,000 inhabitants.