Via francigena sentiero cai393

The summit of a mountain, the Grosso, which has no view because it is covered by the woods. They say there are beautiful landscapes from that mountain, but I haven't discovered them yet: it's time to go back and explore. For now I have discovered this plaque in memory of two partisans, starting point for research on what happened here during the war.

Challenging, especially if like me a beginner, but valid and feasible. Good reporting.

A variant of the Via Francigena that leads to Carrara, passing through the Apuan Alps Regional Park. Yes it can. The path gives you the opportunity to "try" the Official Variant of the Via Francigena. In the locality of "The Four Roads", this time, instead of going down to the sea side, I decide to turn east and take the CAI 290 path. The 8 km that separate me from Fosdinovo offer me immediately the panorama of the surrounding valley. The Gulf of La Spezia is there, at the bottom, in all its extension. Further ahead the Apennines appear ... and again the sea: it is a succession of images that make you emerge from your deep intimate unexpected memories. You arrive after about half an hour in a hill with the signs of the Via Francigena (a little worn, to tell the truth) with the mapping of the hills, which you can admire in the distance, soft cutlery on the sea and dotted by the sinuosity of the Magra river. In Pianaccia a sign indicates the path to Fosdinovo, I follow it for a while until a crossroads, on the right, which leads me to the hill: from here another panorama on the Aulla valley: Vecchietto and Bibola seem to be there just a few steps away. Here is the Apennines again. A slight descent takes me on the road that leads to Ponzanello, I cross it and take the path 290 which is arched in the Prade. Another scenario: with the price of effort only, you enter an "amphitheater" where nature makes all its actors dance: the hills of La Spezia, the Gulf, Bocca di Magra, the river, the sea, the plain, the chirps that overlap like a polyphony with several voices, the scents of worked earth, of soil moisture ... everyone ... seems to want to stop my pace. They do it. I sit down to contemplate the protagonists of this place who move in the infinite shades of late summer colors. I enchant myself! The castle of Fosdinovo is there towards the east, high imperious, it looks like the formwork of a ship that drags the keel behind it, immobile. The road I travel again offers other perspectives, new angles framed between the trees ... (everything will remain etched in my eyes ...). The asphalt ends at the Passo del Cucco. As soon as I enter the CAI path, a group of fir trees seem to greet my arrival. I go up to Mount Carboli. Suddenly the castle reappears with its well-known medieval ornaments. "It looks like a ship" that plows the green sea to head towards the sky ... I leave the CAI 295 path, then again, the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines which, stretched from the Nude to Abetone, enter the scene and accompany me up to the SP 72. Still the sea, the Gulf, Bocca di Magra return to be admired. A few Km of asphalt and sudden rise the Apuan Alps to the east, and at the same time the Apennines to the north. Beautiful mountains, our mountains !!! In Castelpoggio an ancient mule track marked with n. 367 takes me to Noceto and finally to Carrara. I conclude the stage in the church of SS. Giacomo and Cristoforo. In 1335 Pope John XXII granted indulgence to all those who would pass through here to rest or to heal themselves from the wear and tear of the journey. I covered 19.8 km. Wonderful day.

A beautiful walk !!!

Very scenic