Castello di Bastia, Medieval castle in Licciana Nardi, Italy

Castello di Bastia is a medieval fortress in Licciana Nardi situated on elevated terrain in Tuscany, featuring traditional defensive walls and fortification elements typical of the region. The structure preserves its original layout with watchtowers and fortified positions that illustrate how defensive architecture was conceived and built during that period.

The Bastia was already named in the pledges Francesco d'Olivola made to the Malaspina marquises of Villafranca in 1294 and 1307. Genoese troops seized it in 1416 to avenge the murder of Oderico Biassa, the Genoese provost of La Spezia, and it returned to the Malaspina in 1423. Florentines garrisoned it between 1424 and 1428 to block Milanese troops crossing the Apennines. In 1535 it passed to Fioramonte II as an independent fief, held by his line until 1783.

The name Bastia comes from the French batir, meaning to build: it denoted a fortification raised quickly to shore up a weak point in a castle, wall circuit or village defence. The castle was held by a branch of the Malaspina dello Spino Secco, and the last marchioness, Annetta Malaspina, was praised by poets Vincenzo Monti and Innocenzo Frugoni and sent to the French court in an attempt to supplant Madame de Pompadour; the mission failed and she returned with a modest French pension.

The castle is a private residence, not an open monument: visits are possible only by appointment, arranged in advance. It stands on a hill above the Taverone valley in the hamlet of Bastia, in the municipality of Licciana Nardi, near the road climbing to the Lagastrello pass between Lunigiana and Emilia.

The trapezoidal plan with four cylindrical corner towers linked by a curtain wall with a walkway points to a post-medieval rebuild, while the central keep lost its probably medieval features in a later renovation. The name comes from the French batir, a fortification thrown up quickly to shore up a weak point in a defensive system.