Pietrasanta is set on the Versilia coast, surrounded by the Apuan Alps. It is also known with the name of “small Athens”, because it is the capital of the marble manufacture. The town has the name of its founder, the podestà of Lucca Guiscardo Pietrasanta. He gave life to the original nucleus of the village near the Stronghold of Sala, an ancient fortress born when the Lombards dominated the area. Yet, an authentic economic and urban development of the town took place when Castruccio Castracani ruled the town between 1316 and 1328.
the most important monuments of the town are located in the historic centre, such as the Cathedral of San Martino (XIII-XIV century) in Romanesque-Gothic style, the Church of Sant’Agostino, in Romanesque stule with a Baroque stile bell-tower, now seat of art exhibitions, Palazzo Moroni, seat of the Archaeological Museum, the Civic Tower (or Torre delle Ore), the Theatre, the column and the fountain of Marzocco (XVI century), the Leopoldo II’s monument and the Arringhina fortress.
In the small hamlet of Valdicastello, it is still possible to visit the house where Giosuè Carducci, a famous Italian poet, also prized with the Nobel prize in 1906, was born.