Duchy of Massa and Carrara 1851, thanks to the English engineer and tycoon William Walton. In 1846 the Count Francesco del Medico proposed to the Duke Francis V the construction of the Marble Railway of Carrara, to link the marble quarries to the sea and thereby facilitating the transport of blocks to the areas for sorting, loading, and shipping. This project was also suspended for lack of funds. The Marble Railway was finally built after the Italian unification (1871–1890). In the last years of the duchy, an increasing number of clashes was seen between the liberals and the ducal government, especially in Carrara. The territory
Duchy of Massa and Carrara was annexed to the Duchy of Modena and Reggio by her son Francesco IV d'Este. In 1859, with the deposition of Francesco V d'Este, the Duchy of Modena and Reggio (which also includes the territories of Massa and Carrara) was permanently attached to the Kingdom of Sardinia, with the formation of province of Massa-Carrara in December 1859. The merge of the Malaspina family with the Cybo family brought the territory to a rather lavish court life. In the conduct of foreign policy the Cybo-Malaspina maintained a role as an intermediary between the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Republic of