The suburb of Malgrate was built in two separate moments. In the first one, at the beginning of the XIV century, the castle was erected by Nicolò Malaspina with the tall tower of 25 meters, the western part with the house of Giovanni Antonio Da Faje and the two accesses. The second one, in the XVI century, saw the construction of the main door of entrance and the house of Pistofilo. In the following centuries, particularly in the XVI, Malgrate changed its aspect of simple strengthened suburb, to assume an elegant residence one, also preserving the native character of military architecture.
The fief of Malgrate was formed in 1351, with the suburbs of Filetto, Orturano, Irola and Mocrone. Bernabé Malaspina was the first marquis. In 1469 and in 1490 malgrate was upset by popular revolts against the greediness of the Malaspinas and instigated from Florence. In 1610 Caesar II, the last marquis Malaspina of Malgrate, surrendered to the Ducal Chamber in Milan that in 1641 gave it to the Ariberti family of Cremona. In this period, the church of St. Lawrence was built. In 1671 Marquis Giovanni Battista Ariberti died and the fief passed to the Count Anton Camillo Stanga. In 1745 Malgrate was inherited by the Freganeschi family that owned it up to 1836.

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The castle of Malgrate
The villages of Villafranca in Lunigiana