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Accademia
The "rocca de Carraria" (the Academy of Fine Arts), amongst the finest artistic and historical buildings of the town, is the result of the merging of the ancient Malaspina castle and the palace built by Alberico I Cybo and finished by Charles I. It remained the princes' residence until 1805, when Carrara became part of the Principality of Lucca and Elisa Baciocchi, Napoleon Bonaparte's sister turned it into the seat of the Academy of Fine Arts.
In 1920, after a violent earthquake, restoration work was carried out and the brick battlement in the upper part and the transept joining the castle to the palace were built. The marble-faced castle has a grandiose marble pointed arch portal with two monoliths, dominated by a Tuscan-Doric marble colonnade. The wide 17th century style façade contains various windows embellished by sills, jambs and architraves made of solid marble. The castle rises on the northern façade and, seen from Via Roma, stands out in all its grandeur. The main body of the castle and the dungeon have embrasures and some openings.
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