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Itineraries
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On foot
A walk in the memory: "Mulattiera comunale di Pietrapazza"
(Bagno-Ridracoli)
(Length: 18,400 km. Required time: 7-8 hours). |
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Siepe dell’Orso
A breathtaking ascent leads from Pietrapazza (601 m) to Siepe dell'Orso (1,004 m): some tracts of the mule-trank are paved, or cut out of the scaly strata of the slope. Pass by the remains of Rignone and of Abetaccia, almost close to the crest enclosing the valley that is ascended dividing it from the Ridracoli valleys. As far as it becomes steeper and steeper, the massive Siepe dell’Orso gradually appears from the last bents.
Two large buildings, already documented in the sixteenth century and recently restored, rise at the top of the ridge where the eye can rove over on the Tosco-Romagnolo Appennines: on the beech woods at Cima Termine or on the thick Foresta della Lama, towards the whitish Fumaiolo rocks, or -closer - towards the wave of the ridge running from Monte Piano to the jagged Monte Castelluccio and stops to the softly shaped Monte Piano.
Lead towards the small Paretaio house at the centre of large clay schist areas, to meet a road coming from La Lama forest and to be followed on the right.
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 Notes on the landscape
If the road runs straight on the crest among two valleys, the space - wonderful - that it crosses and appears to the eyes of visitors cannot be described, almost magic, blurring among literature and landscape slows down the pace. The view on centuries-old forests alternated with clearings covered by pastures or fields, abandoned settlements, traces left by wild animals, is as changeable and complex as the human relationship with the surrounding landscape: both mutually shaped and then smoothed by the time and the history.
Pass the deviation that on the left leads to Romiceto, and in slightly more than 3 km Casanova dell'Alpe village (971) is reached: a small church with a flattened bell-tower, the cemetery, the school and three houses rise on the ridge at the margins of the road. Silence is deep and no one is around.
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Casanova dell’Alpe
A cippus indicates the "Mulattiera di Pietrapazza", that is the road on a ridge that is now followed, while on the corner of the church of St Maria del Carmine two indications are reported: "Km 12.358" is the distance from Bagno; "Km 5.933" is the distance to Ridracoli.
Following the path, at the bar take on the left and follow the dirt road and deviate again on the right - mind the indication - leading to the same mule-track. A short way to the top of Monte Cerviaia, on the side declining towards Ridracoli, and the mule-track, in long tracts paved, winds while descending along a side where the vegetation is thick.
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 Towards Ridracoli
After wading a branch of the Fosso dei Tagli, the ancient farm house of Campo dei Peri (801) is avoided, a house documented already in the fifteenth century, surrounded by the slope above. Then the paved path runs toward Farniole di Sopra (768) rising on a large slope. On the brick of a window "Km 3.735" is engraved and refers to the distance to Ridracoli. The building is elegant as it is essential in its lines: it was recently restored after it was abandoned.
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 The mirror of time
Ivy and other plants wrap up Farniole di sotto (738) and Tagli (666) that can be reached quickly descending from high above. Ridracoli artificial lake can already be perceived among the entangled ridges that form a fan from the green Appennine ridge obstructing the view. The past reflects in the present deep waters.
After Caselle, facing the grey wall of the Dam, there is the hilltop where the ancient Ridracoli castel rose. The paved mule-track comes down from the Bidente di Ridracoli above and stops close to the abandoned parish church of St Martino. The abandoned place is not immediately recognisable because the area is populated by tourist arriving here following asphalted roads.
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 The Prince, the Triumvir, the Tribune
At Palazzo Giovanetti, an ancient master’s house, Leopoldo II, Aurelio Saffi and Antonio Fratti were hosted. At present it is a wonderful hotel. It rests on a hilltop, crowned by cypresses and fires, with a small oratory beside a paved mule-track descending to the bridge on the Bidente di Ridracoli, among the mill and the ''Osteria del Terrore" (inn). It is an evocative image: another place stuck in the common memory, that gathers the past and the present.
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Nature
Issues
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Itineraries
On foot
Across the pilgrims’ pass...
In the deep and secret Appennines
A walk in the memory...
Inside the landscape
On horseback
In mountain bike
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