The hamlet borders to the north with Poveromo (fraction of the municipality of Massa), to the east with the Renella, to the south with Vittoria Apuana (fraction of the municipality of Forte dei Marmi), to the west it is bathed by the Ligurian Sea; the locality develops on the southern limits of the Apuan coast.
History
To respond to the danger of pirate raids by Saracen pirates, in 1565 the fortified tower was built at the mouth of the lake known as “Porta Beltrame”; it was part of the military coastal defense program desired by the Medici. The tower played its role of defense against incursions from the sea until the 19th century, after being strengthened in 1750 with a larger structure (later Forte Leopoldo di Cinque Ale similar to the more recent structure of Forte dei Marmi of 1788, formed from barracks on three levels with bastion facing the sea), which remained visible until the Second World War when it was demolished by German troops.
The tourist development of Cinquale dates back to the period between the two wars when the locality belonging at the same time to both the Apuan Riviera, because under the province of Massa Carrara, and Versilia, because the Versilia river flows into it, became an area of colonies summer (Farinacci, Ilva, Principessa di Piemonte, Caffaro, Italcementi), nursing homes (Barellai, later transformed into the Italo Balbo military hospital) and villas of prestigious personalities (such as the painter Mino Maccari), for the particular amenity of the places and for the exceptional nature of the climate.
Monuments and places of interest
In Cinquale there is the church of San Giuseppe Artigiano, the seafront, the Lungo Versilia with the small tourist port and the modern centre. In the hinterland is the wildlife oasis of “Lago di Porta”.
Near the mouth, on the northern bank, there are a memorial stone and a statue commemorating the Gothic line, the war front that stretched from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic Sea, during the Second World War.
