Vinca

A handful of houses in the Apuan Alps - where talk of a timeless atmosphere is not rhetorical - serves as a junction of paths and a starting point for excursions to the Pizzo d'Uccello, the Cresta Garnerone and Monte Sagro. These are not mountains to be taken lightly: to take the borderline example, the nearby Pizzo d'Uccello, which separates the Lunigiana from the Garfagnana of Lucca, has a north face with a difference in height of almost eight hundred metres, and climbing difficulties comparable to those of the Dolomites. However, there are routes where good shoes and a little breath are sufficient: the section of path 38 from Vinca to the Maestà di Doglio has a difference in height of about one hundred metres in all. Here, a small road called Strada dei Tedeschi (Street of the Germans) commemorates the episodes of resistance that culminated in the killing of more than one hundred and fifty civilians by the occupiers. Of course, continuing from Maestà di Doglio one could even reach Colonnata, immediately above Carrara, but it would be a much longer and more demanding hike. However, Vinca is worth the drive in itself, even if you are in Fosdinovo, if only for the local bread – because the quality of the water, the flour and bran, the wood-burning ovens and the traditions of the bakers really count for something – and for the charm of the environment, both man-made and shaped by nature.