An undiscovered hidden gem
It’s not hard to imagine what the town of Virgoletta would have looked like if instead of the Lunigiana it was located in the popular Val d’Orcia south of Siena. In the very same region, Tuscany, but with a completely different outcome: we can imagine souvenir shops, busy cafés, gourmet restaurants, and many tourists taking photos of this cute little town. But nothing could be further from the truth: Virgoletta has remained an unknown, hidden gem in the heart of the Lunigiana. Situated within the municipality of Villafranca in Lunigiana, unfortunately this town like many others in the Lunigiana is subject to depopulation. A town with a lot of potential, but in need of a little push.
About Virgoletta
Literally “Virgoletta” means “little comma”, but the origins of the town’s name have nothing to do with punctuation. The name stems from “Verrucoletta”, which refers to the hill the town stands upon. In fact, Virgoletta is built on the Vignale hill which has two small summits: on one sits the Malaspina Castle and on the other the Church of Saints Gervasius and Protasius.
