or Massa Ducale, a town of Italy, formerly capital of the duchy of that name, is pleasantly situated near the left bank of the Frigido, about 2 miles from its mouth, and 58 S.W. of Modena. The town has several fine streets and squares, one of the latter of which is planted with orange trees; and its chief buildings are a cathedral and a palace. The manufacture of silk is carried on here, as well as a considerable trade in the fine marble which is got in the neighbourhood, and which is called Carrara marble. The duchy was, in the middle ages, for some time under the power of the Genoese; and afterwards, for several centuries, belonged to the house of Malaspina till it passed by marriage to the Genoese family of Cibo, who were at first Counts of Florentillo, but were raised by the Emperor Maximilian II. to the rank of Princes of Massa and Margraves of Carrara, and by Leopold in 1664 to that of Dukes of Massa and Princes of Carrara. In 1741 Maria Theresa Francisca, the heiress of Carrara, married Hercules Rainald, the heir of Modena; and their daughter Beatrice, Duchess of Este, married Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, and inherited Massa and Carrara. Though dispossessed by the French in 1796, this princess was restored to her rights by the Congress of Vienna; and, on her death in 1829, the duchy was united to Modena, of which it now forms the province of Massa Carrara. Pop. of the province (1850) 56,867; of the town, 8000.