# Massa

- **Country:** Italy
- **Coordinates:** 44.033333, 10.133333

Massa is a historic town and comune located in the Tuscany region of central Italy, serving as the administrative center for the province of Massa and Carrara. Situated in the Frigido River Valley near the Alpi Apuane mountains, it lies approximately five kilometers from the Tyrrhenian Sea coast. The area was first documented in the Tabula Peutingeriana, an ancient Roman itinerary dating between the second and fourth centuries AD, where it appeared under the name ad Tabernas frigidas. This early mention suggests its origins as a significant stage on the Via Aemilia Scauri, a consular road connecting Pisa to Luni, establishing its long-standing role as a strategic transit point in the region.

From the fifteenth through the nineteenth century, Massa held considerable political importance as the capital of the independent Principate, later Duchy, of Massa and Carrara. The town was ruled successively by the influential Malaspina and Cybo-Malaspina noble families before passing to the Duke of Modena in 1829 and eventually joining the Kingdom of Sardinia during Italian unification. Notably, Massa claims a unique place in technological history as the first recorded town in Europe where the magnetic needle compass was utilized within mines to map underground tunnels and define property boundaries for various mine owners. Today, the municipality encompasses numerous hamlets, including the coastal area of Marina di Massa, and remains a vibrant community with a population nearing seventy thousand residents.

![Photo of Massa](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Massa_-_Comune_di_Massa_-_2023-09-10_12-00-37_001.jpg)

**Source:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massa,_Tuscany (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)