On this trip, we visited the areas of Lunigiana and Garfagnana, both in the far north of the region. No rolling green hills or big name hotel brands here. This is lakes and mountains country! Small family run hotels and guest houses. The trip was jam packed everyday from early morning to late at night so I can’t possibly document everything we did, these are the highlights. A short 2 hour flight from Gatwick to this region with Easyjet makes it really accessible.
Upon arrival at Pisa airport, we met our guides and drivers and transferred directly to the city of Pisa. The journey took all of 10 minutes. Here we stopped in Pisa for around 2 hours. That was plenty of time for a leisurely stroll through the city learning some history along the way, plus 15 minutes or so at the leaning tower for those ‘must do’ selfie poses, and finishing up at a nice little café for a machiato!
You really don’t need to stay in Pisa overnight unless you specifically want to. It’s a small university city which is easily accessible by train. The station is right in the very heart of the city. Allow a half a day including lunch or one full day as enough time to see the tower and more. Decide whether to allow a full or half day depending on how much history you like to take in.
From here we headed an hour out of the city to Castello del Piagnaro in Pontremoli, we were treated to a spectacular view across the town, some peace and quiet and a traditional yet simply lunch of breads, cheeses, cured meats, and local wine, half an hour out into the countryside is Gordana Creek. It was here that the activities began, we got changed into wetsuits and put on safety helmets (in the van – nothing glamorous about this excursion) for our activity of the day; Water-trekking. Lead by an expert guide we trekked through the late afternoon and early evening getting to know the Pilgrim route ‘Via Francigena’ which crosses Lunigana and linking several little hidden gems.
This was the most fantastic experience and looking back one of the highlights of the trip for me personally. We trekked footpaths leading down to the river bed, slowly the ground became more watery until we were swimming sections, climbing sections, walking sections. I loved it. Imagine a watery Petra and you won’t be far from the landscape! This is not an activity which is safe to do independently.
Also known as “hundreds castle land”. There is a wide choice of castles to explore in this region, hence the name … Piagnaro Castle, PonteBosio Castle, Verrucolette Castle and Fivizzano opt, Casale Amati and Castello dell’Aquila to name but a few but ‘the best’, and scariest …. Fosdinovo Castle
I will never forget this night for as long as I live. After a tour of the haunted, completely authentic, real life medieval castle, complete with ghost stories, tour of the dungeons and haunted bed chambers, we said our good nights and made our way to our individual rooms – complete with… a bed. Please note, this place is somewhere, in my opinion, to be sold a novelty ‘haunted stay’. It’s incredibly niche. Something for ghost hunters or Halloween maybe. It’s a castle, a cold dark castle with no central heating. The rooms are largely not en-suite, the windows don’t close properly, there are no curtains, heating, TVs or indeed Wi-Fi. I had no internet or phone signal up there… on the morning of Thomas Cooks collapse… but that’s another story.
Fosdinovo Castle
After waking up sweating hot from hiding under the covers from the ghosts all night (because the bedsheets would save me, right?), we woke to the news that Thomas Cook had ceased trading, as a travel agent who had spent a scary night in a haunted castle it felt like a real life nightmare. We all hurried around checking how many bookings we each had affected whilst trying to enjoy a typically Italian breakfast served in the castle. It was a very misty morning and the air was damp.
After leaving, the activities began again in Equi Terme, trekking at the foothills of the Apuan Alps and getting to know Apuan Geopark in Equi Terme. The Geopark is all about the caves and adventure park with zip-lining, creeks and natural pools. The caves were brilliant – an excellent suggestion for families. We saw bats and learned about the cave system and rock formations (stalactites and stalagmites). The inside of the caves has permanent lighting and staircases with safety rails so it wasn’t a scary experience.
We caught the local train from Lunigiana (Equi Terme.) to Garfagnana (Camporgiano). The journey took 20 minutes. The trains are so easy to use. Little tip – when in Italy, remember to stamp your ticket on the platform before entering the train!
We spent the afternoon visiting Verrucole fortress – (amazing views) and Marovelli cheese making factory. It’s great to combine these two attractions on the same afternoon. They’re relatively close to each other and after your hike, you have earned your cheese! These locations are all very remote. If you holiday to either of these two regions, you must expect to have to travel by car and/ rail to visit/ undertake their day trips and activities.
Lots of rural scenes and natural beauty today – scenes over the Apuan Alps ridges and the Apennine Mountains.We journeyed from north to south and back north again, to experience food, landscape, local productions, villages and the main attractions in the area.Firstly, we visited Careggine with a short Hike to La Bosa. Next was a stop at Ceragetta Resort for a site inspection. Ceragetta Resort is one of the most memorable of all the properties we visited during the trip. The self-catering/ B&B property has the most amazing views ever! It’s a simple resort, perfect for families looking for an ‘away from it all’ lakes and mountains style lodgings. There was a real ski chalet feel to the restaurant at this property. In general, Garfagnana is probably the prettier of the two regions we visited (the other region being Lunigiana).
We then headed to the town of Castelnuovo for lunch. This was a really special lunch; Italian style tapas at a little place called Il Vecchio Mulino. An absolute must for foodies!!! You could make an afternoon of it but sadly we only had an hour or so. The restaurant, come bar, come café had been there donkeys’ years and reminded me of an Italian version of the ‘Café Rene’ from Allo! Our journey then took us to the historic town of Barga. We enjoyed a walking tour of the town followed by an aperitive at a local bar. We sat outside in the square surrounded by other bars with people sitting at tables outside, it was a nice space to sit, relax and enjoy the atmosphere. The next morning we said farewell to Garfagana and the Medieveal hidden gems and we headed out for out past Devils bridge is well worth a look for the interesting and unusual architecture as well as the legend which goes with it! Be sure to walk right over the bridge and visit the little restaurant opposite.
This area of Tuscany is undiscovered, the majority of properties we visited on the trip the accommodation is simple/ basic, yet comfortable with an ‘away from it all’ feel. The owners produce all types of their own wine, which we sampled with our meals. Simple living, simple (good) food here, if you want an escape, off the beaten track with plenty of great activities and sites and some home made italian food, there is no better spot!
