Duchy of Massa and Carrara Genoa. Alberico I brought large urban restructurations in the cities of Carrara and Massa, mainly for prestige reasons. Both cities were equipped with new city walls - with representative functions, rather than military, since the policy of the territory was not expansionist - and new ducal palaces. In Carrara was established the Office of Marble (1564), to regulate the marble mining industry. The city of Massa, in particular, saw much of its plan redesigned (new roads, plazas, intersections, pavings) in order to make it worthy of an Italian country's capital. The War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714) was the beginning of
Duchy of Massa and Carrara was chosen by Count Camillo Benso di Cavour and Napoleon III to organize popular anti-Austrian riots and give France an opportunity to intervene on the side of Piedmont in Italy, giving way to the Second Italian War of Independence. Duchy of Massa and Carrara The Duchy of Massa and Carrara was the duchy that controlled the towns of Massa di Carrara and Carrara; the area is now part of unified Italy, but retains its local identity as the province of Massa-Carrara. The core of this territory was formed on 22 February 1473 when Iacopo Malaspina, Marquis of Massa, purchased the