Lunigiana

thumb|250px|View of Lunigiana between Filattiera and [[Aulla.]] thumb|250px|Map of the municipalities that make up Lunigiana The Lunigiana () or Lunesana is a historical territory of Italy that today falls within the provinces of Massa Carrara, Tuscany, and La Spezia, Liguria. Its borders derive from the ancient Roman settlement, later the medieval diocese of Luni, which no longer exists.

Lunigiana, a mountainous region dissected by the Magra river, covers an area that runs from the Apennines to the Mediterranean Sea, now belongs in part to Tuscany and in part to Liguria. It takes its name from Luni, a Roman town, perhaps pre-dated by an Etruscan settlement, which became the principal urban center on the northern Tuscan coast. Some contend that the name Luni refers to the Moon, a celestial body whose beauty is made all the more attractive when framed by the white-peaked Apuan Alps and high Apennine Mountains. Others maintain, though little or no evidence exists, that the region was populated by those who worshiped the Moon. As if to unite history and myth, the symbol of contemporary Lunigiana is a crescent moon held in the claw of a bear. thumb|Female stele statue “Treschietto” (Pontremoli - Museo delle Statue Stele Lunigianesi) The earliest recorded inhabitants of this region may have been the Apuani (from which the name of the Apuan mountain chain is derived), an ancient Ligurian people, as well as Etruscans who may have inhabited towns along the coast and even the hamlets near in-land trade routes. While evidence of both Roman and later Medieval settlements are ample, the wondrously appealing stele, late pre-historic and Bronze Age stone statues that have been found in large numbers in this part of Tuscany, remain the symbol of this ancient land. These stelae depict human figures, often with stylized facial features, weapons, and ornaments. They are believed to have served as funerary or commemorative monuments for local elites, though their exact function and meaning remain subjects of scholarly debate. Found throughout the Magra Valley and surrounding areas, stelae are the first expression of the art and, perhaps, of the religious beliefs of the peoples that inhabited northern Tuscany from the Bronze Age to start of the Roman Empire.