Filattiera e la sua Pieve - Memorie di Lunigiana

An outline of the history of the Lunigiana
Region
In order to summarize briefly the history of the origins of the Lunigiana
Region, it is necessary, due to scarce documentation, to resort to the work of
Eugenio Branchi “Storia della Lunigiana feudale” (“History of the Lunigiana
Region in feudal times”), the only authoritative source together with the work of
Gioachino Volpe; in this regard, it was Volpe who observed, “the history of the
Lunigiana Region, before the twelfth century, is little more than shadows and
tenuous light of a distant dawn”.
In accordance with these authors, we begin with Oberto, count of Luni,
probably of Lombardic descent and the only surviving member of the family of
the marquis of Tuscany.
Luni became a Roman colony in 177 B.C., prospered with the name of
Provincia Maritima Italorum (Italian Maritime Province), at first, subjected to
Lombardic invasion, then, with all of the Lunigiana Region, was aggregated to the
Lombardic dukedom of Lucca. With the Franks, Luni entered into the Carolingian
march (borderland), Oberto was its first count and, later, when the Bishops
opposed the dominion of the Obertenghi family, obtaining from Federico I,
sanction of their rights on all of the territory, it became a bishop’s see.
Volpe, in agreement with other historians and genealogists, singles out in
Oberto (945), the first historical figure to be nominated count of Luni. To be count
of Luni had a certain importance, as the town, located between Liguria and
Tuscany, bore witness through the remains of its Roman amphitheatre and ancient
Palaeolithic settlements, to its remarkable past. Oberto, a few years later (951), as
well as the Lunigiana Region, entered into possession of the march of eastern
Liguria, of the centres of Tortona and Genoa and, upon his death, all of his
possessions were passed by him to his two sons: Adalberto I and Oberto II.
The first son, by successive ramifications, gave rise to the lineages of the
marquis of Massa, Corsica and Sardinia, of the Pelavicino and of the Cavalcabo`
of Cremona. The second son Oberto I, the one of greater interest to Lunigiana’s
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