Francesco D’Este (1516 – 1578) marchese della Massa, was the founder of the first public school in the territory of Massa, to him is now called the local school.
Francesco d’Este was the fifth child of Alfonso I d’Este, Duke of Ferrara and his second wife Lucrezia Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI and sister of Caesar. His paternal grandparents were Duke Ercole I d’Este and Eleonora d’Aragona, daughter of Ferdinando I of Naples.
