The ancient Roman colony of "Portus Lunae" was founded in 177 BC. at the mouth of the river Magra after fierce battles against the Ligurians for the conquest of the territory. The city became a prosperous center and had a long life until the thirteenth century, when its decline (the floods of the river Magra modified the plain moving much further along the coast line) was mentioned by Dante Alighieri in the XVI Canto del Paradiso.
The prosperity of Luni, due to the direct management of the marble quarries - today called Carrara but which in Roman times was called "Lunense" - and its trade, is still recognized today in the luxury of the ancient mosaics of the domus, in wall frescoes and in the majesty of public and religious buildings.
The city of Luna, surrounded by walls and facing the sea, was organized in elongated rectangular blocks and had a large public area, the forum, in which thistle and decuman intersect which still today are partially passable. On the forum there was the Capitolium named after the Capitoline triad Jupiter, Juno and Minerva; further north was the Great Temple, dedicated to the worship of the Moon goddess. The tour ends with a visit to the extraordinary amphitheater of the imperial age, still preserved today in its main structures.