Santo Stefano di Magra ( lij, San Steva, Lunigiano egl, Sa' Steu) is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

'' (municipality) in the

Province of La Spezia A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

region

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

, located about southeast of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

and about northeast of

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest ci ...

. It is located near the confluence of torrent Vara into the

Magra __NOTOC__ The Magra is a long river of Northern Italy, which runs through Pontremoli, Filattiera, Villafranca in Lunigiana and Aulla in the province of Massa-Carrara (Tuscany); Santo Stefano di Magra, Vezzano Ligure, Arcola, Sarzana and ...

river. It is part of the Montemarcello-Magra Natural Regional Park. It has an entrance and exit to the toll-paying "Autostrada" The municipality of Santo Stefano di Magra contains the ''

frazioni A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

'' (subdivisions, mainly villages and hamlets) Ponzano Magra, Ponzano Belaso, and Ponzano Superiore. Santo Stefano di Magra borders the following municipalities:

Aulla Aulla is a ''comune'' in the province of Massa and Carrara, Tuscany, central Italy. It is located in the valley of the River Magra. Geology In 1977, the Italian geologist Augusto Azzaroli discovered a series of mammal rests with a correlated f ...

Bolano Bolano ( lij, Bolan) is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa and about northeast of La Spezia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 7,490 and an ...

Sarzana Sarzana (, ; lij, Sarzann-a) is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former short-lived Catholic bishopric in the Province of La Spezia, Liguria, Italy. It is east of Spezia, on the railway to Pisa, at the point where the railway to Parma div ...

Vezzano Ligure Vezzano Ligure ( lij, Vessan, locally ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of La Spezia in the Italian region of Liguria, located about southeast of Genoa and about northeast of La Spezia. Vezzano Ligure borders the following municip ...

History

Founded before 1000 AD, Santo Stefano is remembered as a marketplace in 981 by

Emperor Otto II An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (emp ...

and in 1185 by

Emperor Frederick I Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

. It was a stage across the

Via Francigena The Via Francigena () is an ancient road and pilgrimage route running from the cathedral city of Canterbury in England, through France and Switzerland, to Rome and then to Apulia, Italy, where there were ports of embarkation for the Holy Land. It w ...

, with a hospice housing pilgrims and travellers. Around 1200 it is first mentioned on a written source, in the event of the peace between the

Malaspina Malaspina can refer to: ;People *The Italian noble Malaspina family. Members of this family include: **Albert Malaspina (1160/65 – 1206/12), Italian marquess. **Conrad Malaspina (The Old) ( – after 1254), Italian nobleman. ** Spinetta Malaspin ...

family and the bishops of Luni.

Main sights

The town is divided into two parts by the old central road, and enclosed by powerful late Renaissance walls. The church dedicated to St. Stephen was built in the 18th century over a medieval

pieve In the Middle Ages, a pieve (, ; la, plebe, link=no; plural ''pievi'') was a rural church with a baptistery, upon which other churches without baptisteries depended. The Italian word ''pieve'' is descended from Latin Latin (, or , ) i ...

Demographic evolution

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:455 height:303 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:8500 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1861 text:1861 bar:1871 text:1871 bar:1881 text:1881 bar:1901 text:1901 bar:1911 text:1911 bar:1921 text:1921 bar:1931 text:1931 bar:1936 text:1936 bar:1951 text:1951 bar:1961 text:1961 bar:1971 text:1971 bar:1981 text:1981 bar:1991 text:1991 bar:2001 text:2001 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1861 from: 0 till:1963 bar:1871 from: 0 till:2116 bar:1881 from: 0 till:2112 bar:1901 from: 0 till:2706 bar:1911 from: 0 till:3081 bar:1921 from: 0 till:3677 bar:1931 from: 0 till:4155 bar:1936 from: 0 till:4402 bar:1951 from: 0 till:5211 bar:1961 from: 0 till:5908 bar:1971 from: 0 till:6117 bar:1981 from: 0 till:6984 bar:1991 from: 0 till:7884 bar:2001 from: 0 till:8344 PlotData= bar:1861 at:1963 fontsize:XS text: 1963 shift:(-8,5) bar:1871 at:2116 fontsize:XS text: 2116 shift:(-8,5) bar:1881 at:2112 fontsize:XS text: 2112 shift:(-8,5) bar:1901 at:2706 fontsize:XS text: 2706 shift:(-8,5) bar:1911 at:3081 fontsize:XS text: 3081 shift:(-8,5) bar:1921 at:3677 fontsize:XS text: 3677 shift:(-8,5) bar:1931 at:4155 fontsize:XS text: 4155 shift:(-8,5) bar:1936 at:4402 fontsize:XS text: 4402 shift:(-8,5) bar:1951 at:5211 fontsize:XS text: 5211 shift:(-8,5) bar:1961 at:5908 fontsize:XS text: 5908 shift:(-8,5) bar:1971 at:6117 fontsize:XS text: 6117 shift:(-8,5) bar:1981 at:6984 fontsize:XS text: 6984 shift:(-8,5) bar:1991 at:7884 fontsize:XS text: 7884 shift:(-8,5) bar:2001 at:8344 fontsize:XS text: 8344 shift:(-8,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from ISTAT

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santo Stefano Di Magra Cities and towns in Liguria