TRAVEL

COLLODI BUTTERFLY HOUSE
VILLA GARZONI GARDEN
VISIT LUCCA
VISIT GARFAGNANA
VISIT MONTECATINI SPA
VISIT PINOCCHIO PARK
MEDIEVAL TOWNS IN TUSCANY
VISIT VILLAS LUCCA
VISIT PISTOIA ZOO

HOLIDAY

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Visit Tuscany

VISIT GARFAGNANA TUSCANY

Leaving from Pescia. Driving along the beautiful internal road you pass through Gragnano, Zone, Marlia, finally arriving at Ponte a Moriano, refer to map.  Here starts the climb for Garfagnana. Set between the Alpi Apuane and the Tuscan-Emilian Appennino, Garfagnana has the River Serchio running through it.
Going back up the long path of the Serchio, the first curiosity you encounter is the Ponte della Maddalena, also known as Ponte del Diavolo, Devil’s Bridge, first constructed at the times of Matilde di Canossa, between 1050 and 1115. Reconstructed by Castruccio Castracani in the early 1300s, it has a classic medieval conformation like a donkey’s back, with the unfounded middle so tall which seems to defy the law of gravity.  The nickname has comes from a legend when the master builder who was constructing it, not managing to finish the work in the pre-arranged time, offered the Devil a soul of the first person to cross the bridge in exchange for completion of the work.  Regrettably, he asked for advice from San Frediano, bishop of Lucca, who advised him to respect the terms, but to make the first to walk across it, a pig.  So he did, and the Devil being made a fool of, jumped into the river and disappeared for ever.  See map Ponte a Moriano, Ponte del Diavolo.

Still going north you come across Barga, a medieval village built in the 14th Century, born like a castle with round walls, has been transformed into an important commercial centre, evident in the gentlemanly squares that still exist.  Not far away is Castelvecchio, where you will find the house-museum of Giovanni Pascoli, where the poet stayed from 1895 to 1912, the year of his death.  On the bank opposite the Serchio is Gallicano, where the fortress di San Jacopo, constructed  possibly before 1000, dominates the landscape. See map Ponte del Diavolo - casa di Giovanni Pascoli.  Going towards the internal, you reach Vergemoli and then Fornovolasco, from here you arrive at Eremo di Calomini, 4kms from Gallicano, positioned overhanging the valley of the river Turrite, with a building that penetrates for 15 metres into the cave and with the vestry excavated into the rock.
This area going around Mount Forato and Pania della Croce, is a paradise for pot-holing enthusiasts because it is rich in caves and gorges. The most unique and famous in Europe is the Grotta del Vento, which offers three tours in three zones, with distinctly different characteristics that synthesize a panorama on the Karstification underground, resulting from an evolution process that started more than 20 million years ago and is still unfinished.
 
From the main road, after Gallicano, heading towards Molazzana with a fortress by Cascio built in 1615, dominates Barga and the middle valley of the Serchio.  Castelnuovo Garfagnana, the historic head town of this area, between 740 and 870 was transformed form a small village to a fortified town with castle-like walls.  Under Lucchese rule from 1248, Castruccio Castracani, in 1324, extended the fortress. After a century it passed to the House of Este, and Alfonso II d’Este who erected the fortress of Montalfonso, which today still dominates and protects Castelnuovo.  With ample dimensions and bastions, it was the main defence support for the Estensi.  After Castelnuovo you arrive at Pieve Fosciana, crossroads of important commercial lines of the Appennino, like Via Vandelli, born from a daring project from Abbot Domenico Vandelli, who connected Massa to  Modena and the Radici passage.  On the other side, towards the Alpi Apuane, you come to Careggine, and then Vagli with its lake and phantom village that emerges from the bottom of the big hydroelectric basin every 10 years.

See map Eremo dei Colomini - Vagli Dal lago di Vagli you come to Campocatino, modelled from an ancient icicle together with an ample grassy carpet, is covered with characteristic stone constructions where shepherds used them like summer mountain pasture.  
After this diversion from the main road, you arrive at Piazza al Serchio, from Lombard origin, situated on the convergence of two original streams of the Serchio. It has always been dressed with  an important commercial value, formerly in the medieval times it was the head of an important marketplace.  Not far away is San Romano di Garfagnana, protected by a ridge of a steep hill that dominates the entire valley, the Estense fortress of Verrucole, restructured and head
of numerous evoking historicals.  Towards the regional park of Orecchiella, you will be surrounded by nature.  In these protected sites surrounding Pania di Corfino, you will come across deer, roe, wild boar and hares in their natural habitat.  Your visit guides you to the climbing end of the
Garfagnana, ending at Sillano and Giuncugnano, near to Mount Prata, which is 2054 metres high and the summit of Tuscany.

AN ABSOULTE VISIT NOT TO MISS

The Butterfly House and Pinocchio Park
Pinocchio Park cannot be anywhere else but Collodi, where the antique village has been for more than a century, with its characteristic waterfall of houses that go from the top of the hill stopping behind  Villa Garzoni with its 17th Century scenic Garden.
Pinocchi Park
Butterfly House Collodi
Villa Garzoni Garden