Owing to its relics, the beauty of its buildings, the development of the marble excavation and processing and to its artistic treasures Pietrasanta is the cultural core of Versilia. The artistic heritage of this town is made up of the works of art of great personalities, such as the sculptors Benti, Stagi, Pardini (and more recently Mitoraj and Botero) and the painters Rosselli, Corradi and Vignali. Also the poet Giosuè Carducci was born in Pietrasanta (exactly in the nearby hamlet of Valdicastello), where we can find even some traces of Michelangelo.

In his native house, which is three kilometres far from the village, we find today the museum with the exhibition of the heirlooms of the great poet, born here in July 1835.

In the garden in front of the house we can see a bust dedicated to him and inside it's possible to admire the original furnishings with the bed where Carducci was born and the study of his father.

The building was given the status of national monument by Vittorio Emanuele III and is today a property of the municipality.

The most charming sights in the town centre of Pietrasanta are the Church of S. Agostino (14th century) near the Palazzo Pretorio and the Cloister, the seat of the Town Library and of the Museo dei Bozzetti (Museum of the Scale Models).
The church has a wide façade covered with marble, resting on marble steps. Over the three dead arches there is the little Gothic loggia, propped up by small marble columns. It has little trefoil arches and a triangular tympanum. Pietrasanta was surrounded by an imposing circle of walls. From Piazza del Duomo it is possible to admire the ruins of these walls. Noteworthy are also the Rocca di Sala (a fortress) and Palazzo Guinigi, the Piazzetta del Centauro (a little square), the monument to Leopoldo II and the Churches of S. Martino (the Cathedrale), S. Antonio Abate and S. Francesco.

Pietrasanta, La Rocca (Fortress)