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An old and very
aristocratic family from the Val
Stàffora, anciently called Langa
Malaspina. There, precisely at
Meconico, the 21 August 1222 Corrado and
Obizzo Malaspina divided amongst
themselves the family’s property. The
descendants of the two brothers
differentiated their coat of arms by
varying the traditional thorn-bush on
their shields, resulting in the
Malaspina “of the withered thorn-bush”,
and those “of the blooming thorn-bush”.
The many
Malaspina fiefs in Val Stàffora were
Godiasco, Varzi, Piumesana, Oramala,
Pozzolgroppo, Santa Margherita and Cella,
often subdivided amongst the members of
the prolific family. The rebirth of
urban life in the twelfth century began
eroding the power of the feudal lords, a
process accelerated during the age of
the city Signorie, and finally by
the political and military power of the
absolute monarchies. The few, puny,
remaining feudal privileges disappeared
with the French Revolution, imported to
Italy by Napoleon’s soldiers in 1796.
Initially,
the Malaspina’s main enemy was the Duchy
of Milan, under the dynasties of the
Visconti and, afterwards, the Sforza,
followed by the Spanish Habsburgs and
then their Austrian cousins, all of
which inexorably eroded the surviving
powers of the local lords. When the
Oltrepò became part of the Kingdom of
Sardinia in 1748, the house of Savoy,
recently endowed with a royal title,
confirmed this trend, by then the feudal
lords having but a shadow of their
former power. The thousand years of
Malaspina presence in Val Stàffora is
witnessed by their castles and palaces,
recalling the family’s happy enthralling
history.
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blasone dei Malaspina ramo "spino
fiorito" |
