Trek Notes - Italy

The Apuane Alps

The Apuane Alps

Far away in the backwoods of northern Tuscany is a little known and far less visited comb of tall limestone mountains liberally smothered in chestnut woodlands and blackberry shrubs. With hidden hamlets and sleepy terraced villages emerging from the trees above, rivers crash through winding gorges below to thread their way to the sea. This is a moderate to challenging tour which takes clients through the oak and chestnut woodland of the Apuane Alps. The air is clear, the views are quite breathtaking and the area seems as yet little touched by tourists. The locals are friendly, leaving their doors open to the outside inquisitive world. There is an opportunity towards the end of the tour if you have good conditions, to reach the 1860m/6100 feet summit of Pania della Croce.

Fitness

This trip is graded moderate to challenging

This self-guided tour traverses rugged and remote terrrain andis therefore not available to singles travelers for safety reasons. Clients should be in reasonable condition and be able to walk between 10-24kms/ 6-15 miles, 3-7 hours per day. Themaximum altitude is 1860m and clients should be prepared to ascend in excess of 1100m in one day.

If you take the option to climb Pania della Croce (1860m), there isa 1400m difference in altitude. This walk is 9 hours(but some people have found it up to 11 hours).

Waymarking

The route is waymarked red and white by the CAI (Italian Alpine Club) or with our own orange marks. The Italian maps are very different too, and not as detailed as French or British maps and so a navigational sense and map interpretational skills are important for the tour. The area is renowned for fast growing vegetation, which can obscure some of the quieter trails.

General Information

Baths: it is not normal for your room to have a bath, the main reason being that it takes up a lot of space, some hotels/guesthouses may have a separate room in the house where a bath is available to guests, but in the main it is showers.

Breakfasts: in countries such as Italy usually consist of coffee and croissant; sometimes, bread rolls, yoghurts, ham and cheese as well. If you want more for breakfast then we would suggest you purchase some food the night before. It is important for you to tell us if you have any dietary requirements when you book your holiday so that we can inform everyone that you are staying with.

Single Supplements:are payable on most of our tours. 1) The single supplement guarantees the privacy of your own room, however, rooms can at times be small and in some places may not enjoy the same facilities as double/twin rooms. 2) You are not just paying a supplement on the room but the luggage transfer costs you are paying in full. The cost of moving 1 bag or 2 bags etcremains the same. On some of our trips it is possible to reduce the cost of the single supplement if you happen to be a 3^rd person travelling, or have chosen a date when other clients are booked.

Language: Note that you will not necessarily come across people speaking English. Remember you have left home to find things different bring a phrase book, try to learn a bit of Italian!

Luggage: When staying in hotels, sometimes your luggage may have been taken to you room awaiting your arrival. However don’t be surprised if your luggage is waiting for you to take it up to your room please politely ask someone if you need assistance.

Accommodation & Meals

Accommodation is in small hotels and pensions with dinner, bed and breakfast throughout. Owing to their size, however, en suite facilities are not generally available except on nights 1&7.

Nights 1 & 7: At Fornaci di Barga, clients will stay in a friendly modern hotel, which is centrally located, about 15 minutes walk away from the train station.

Night 2: This is spent in a little pension at Verni, with simply furnished rooms and a bathroom shared between every couple of rooms. It is situated in the historical centre of Verni, and from the balcony there are some very nice views of the town of Trassilico. The pension has its own restaurant.

Nights 3,4 & 5: Fornovolasco. A typical small hotel.2 bathrooms are shared by the 5 rooms. The very friendly owner serves delicious food in his welcoming little restaurant.

Nights 6: Eremo di Calomini. Here our attractive accommodation is in a recently converted forester’s abode with renovated rooms formed from ancient caves. Everything is clean and charming. Dinner is at the excellent restaurant at the church cave complex and the Trout is renowned here.

Night 7: Fornaci di Barga. As night 1.

Baggage will be transferred on those days you move hotel during the walking tour. However if you are spending an extra night at Lucca you will need to take your baggage with you on the train.

Extra nights

In Lucca (between Pisa and Fornaci di Barga) at the start/end of the tour: £45 per person per night approx (3*, centrally located hotel). We can thoroughly recommend Lucca for its elegance and urban beauty in complete contrast to the wildly rural area that you will have been walking through. We can also offer nights in Pisa at the start/end of the tour: around £45 also per person per night. Bed and breakfast in either case. Extra nights should be booked at the same time as the tour.

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrive Pisa airport. Take the train from Pisa to Fornaci di Barga (2 hours; normally change trains en route at Lucca). Fornaci, “the cave of clay” with its little town, derives its name from the solitary brick kiln which existed in the area before 1915. From here, Monte Penna, Gragno and Cardoso can be viewed. Today the town is more famous for its copper works.

Day 2: There is an early morning start for your five hour walk today, which will take you mostly through woods from Fornaci to Verni, with 600m difference in altitude. Passing the river Serchio, you ascend to Cardoso, a medieval hamlet with a beautiful Roman church. As the footpath climbs, the vegetation changes from oaks to chestnuts. Just after the grotto of Casteltendine there is a superior vantage point from a rock with a cross, which affords a wonderful view of the highest summits of the Apennines, including Giovo, Rondinaio and Tre Potenze. Passing a little shepherd's hamlet, you make your way to Verni (732m) a very charming and picturesque hilltop home to a mere 80 inhabitants, who are spoilt for choice with no less than four churches and many little chapels, which bear testimony to its rich past. Overnight in Verni. Perhaps visit the old ruins of a castle from where there are splendid views. There are some authentically intact old streets.14km/ 9miles 5.5hrs walking. Ascent 710m; descent 400m.

Day 3: 6 hour walk from Verni, and passing Trassilico, a second very charming village; following a high track with stunning views across the Apuane Alps. Pass by the little village of San Pellegrinetto and the totally abandoned village of Col di Luco and overnight in the typical Apuane village of Fornovolasco where we have three nights. 15km/ 9 miles.5.5hrs walking. Ascent 600m; descent 650m.

Day 4: Circular 6 hour walk to Monte Forato (1223m), with panoramic views to the Mediterranean, the woods and Apuane villages below. 600 metres difference in altitude. Walk through chestnut trees to the Foci di Petrosciana- an old crossroads, from where you may view the sea. There are two options from here: either an easy ascent or a longer footpath to Monte Forato, a splendid natural arch. There is a great view ofProcinto with its perpendicular rock-face and Monte Nono from here. We continue until just under the Pania, which from below is rather breathtaking, then descend along a footpath by abandoned houses to Fornovolasco. 10km/ 6 miles. 6hrs walking. Ascent 790m; descent 790m.

Day 5: Begin the day with a short walk around Fornovolasco, then onward to visit the famous Grotto del Vento, with its internal lakes, stalagmites and stalactites.After lunch you could use the maps to follow an easy strada bianca offering gorgeous views of the Turrite river, and Trassilico. Return to Fornovolasco. Distance varies depending on where you go, but it is meant to be an easy day because tomorrow is the longest and hardest! 3 hours including caves.

Day 6: If the weather is good and you are up for a hard day we recommend the ascent of Pania della Croce (1860m), with a 1400m difference in altitude. This 9-hour (some people have found it up to 11 hours) walk involves a reasonably tough ascent, but the reward is definitely worth the effort in the view over the sea, the marble quarries, the Apennines and the Apuanes. This view is yours only if you reach the summit (and the weather is kind)! The way winds up on a good footpath with sometimes stunning views; it makes its way up through pleasant woods to Piglionico, which has a chapel dedicated to the Partisans who fell in the area. A footpath takes you to the beech forest boundary, where, in a basin between the two summits, Pania Secca and Pania della Croce, we find Rifugio Rossi. Another half an hour's walk would take you to either of the two summits, but the view from Pania della Croce is much more pleasing. Descent to Rifugio Rossi and onto the 11th century hermitage of Eremo di Calomini, with its community of monks for your overnight stay. 27km/17 miles 8hrs walking. Ascent 1400m approx; descent 1500m approx. As part of the route up and down is the same this day can readily be shortened especially if the weather is closing in. There is also a shorter alternative today following the Valley of the Turrite River, once again with good views.

Day 7: Eremo di Calomini to Fornaci di Barga a 4 hour easy walk, with a descent of about 300m. You will pass through Gallicano, although perhaps not as attractive as the other villages on the route there is, a neo-gothic aqueduct and a beautiful Roman church - worth a visit. 11km/ 7.5 miles, 4hrs walking. Some people have taken bus from Gallicano to the attractive town of Barga and then walked back to Fornaci. (approx6 km extra).

Day 8: Depart by train to Pisa (50 mins). We can also recommend that you spend an afternoon or extra night looking around the beautiful city of Lucca. We can arrange accommodation here on request.