Montignoso

The oldest mention of Castellum Agynulfi ( or Aghinolfi), a toponym of clear Lombard origin, dates back to 752.

Although considered by many a mere conjecture, it seems likely that one of the four castra mentioned by Giorgio Ciprio as part of the Byzantine Limes in Lunigiana (including the famous Kastron Soreon, today’s Filattiera), coincides with that indicated in the Descriptio orbis romani as Castrum Euorias as equivalent of a castrum Versiliae. The importance of this fortified line in Lunigiana is enormous: in the Republican Rome era the Senate had already forbidden the generals and their army to cross the Rubicon-Magra line without a prior approval; the famous feat of Julius Caesar, carried out against the orders of the Senate, marked indeed a historical event that led to the foundation of the Empire. On that ideal line, which established the ultimate limit within which there was still time to organise the defense of the city, the defensive Limes gainst barbaric invasions was established at the dawn of the 5th century, under General Honorius, who would later become emperor. This line of fortifications was then reinforced with the subsequent Byzantine Limes, as already mentioned, which was built by the Exarchate to face the Lombard invasion. At the time Ravenna was the capital of the Byzantine Empire on Italic territory and our glorious Roman town of Luni was in command of the Republica Maritima Italorum. Two great legacies of that remote era have survived to our days. One of them is the Maritime Military Department of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea, which has its headquarters at the Ammiragliato (Admiralty) of La Spezia, while the other one is the sadly famous Gothic Line, which was controlled on the Tyrrhenian front by the German army and was intended to stop the arrival of the Anglo-American liberation army from the South – at the Corvo Monastery in Bocca di Magra (Ameglia). The Gothic Line ended in Carrara, not far from Montignoso, which is the southern limit of the Lunigiana Storica (Historical Lunigiana) district.

The oldest mention of Castellum Agynulfi ( or Aghinolfi), a toponym of clear Lombard origin, dates back to 752.

Although considered by many a mere conjecture, it seems likely that one of the four castra mentioned by Giorgio Ciprio as part of the Byzantine Limes in Lunigiana (including the famous Kastron Soreon, today’s Filattiera), coincides with that indicated in the Descriptio orbis romani as Castrum Euorias as equivalent of a castrum Versiliae. The importance of this fortified line in Lunigiana is enormous: in the Republican Rome era the Senate had already forbidden the generals and their army to cross the Rubicon-Magra line without a prior approval; the famous feat of Julius Caesar, carried out against the orders of the Senate, marked indeed a historical event that led to the foundation of the Empire. On that ideal line, which established the ultimate limit within which there was still time to organise the defense of the city, the defensive Limes against barbaric invasions was established at the dawn of the 5th century, under General Honorius, who would later become emperor.

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