Fair Mountain

Fair Mountain

A circular walk via Terenzano, a Stone Cross and Turlago

The first part of this walk follows an elevated and serpentine woodland lane through the pretty little village of Terenzano to the boundary that separates the comune of Fivizzano from the comune of Casola-in-Lunigiana before continuing past a waterfall. At the top of the hill, the terrain changes as you follow a dirt road up to an ancient stone cross and a high level path to the village of Turlago. From there, a scenic woodland track takes you back to the start after traversing the hill of Monte Chiaro — Fair (or Light) Mountain in English. In medieval times an important castle stood on top of the hill.

Walk summary

Grade: ModerateLength: 8.8km
Circular? YesDuration: 2h 30m
Start: N44.21200º E10.13096ºFinish: Same
Max elevation: 735mMin elevation: 518m
Total ascent: 336mTotal descent: 336m

Equivalent flat distance: 11.461km — multiply this number by the flat distance walking pace (min./km) of the slowest walker for a better estimate of walk duration. NB: see my article on estimating walk durations.

Route map with elevation profile and downloadable GPS track

Download a GPX track for this walk: Download GPX track

Detailed description

The start and finish point for this walk is the Maestà del Monte at the junction of the road down to Prato and Alebbio. A parking area and a lay-by can be found near the junction.

Follow the quiet lane SEbS (150º) and follow it for just over 4km to the top of the hill. This surfaced section of the walk is mostly flat and offers frequent spectacular views of the Alpi Apuane mountain range as it winds its way through predominantly oak forest to the pretty little village of Terenzano. Ignore the right turn for Casola-in-Lunigiana and Luscignano shortly before the 3km point by continuing straight on to pass a waterfall on your left. This mountain stream, the Canalaccio, forms the boundary between the towns of Fivizzano and Casola-in-Lunigiana and will be crossed again later in the walk.

At the top of the hill, just after the 4km point, take the sharp left turn onto an unsurfaced mountain road. This is the “Novaglia”, an old road that connects the Aulella and Rosaro valleys. The track gets quite steep in places before levelling out in an area of chestnut forest. At the 5km point, you will find yourself at a crossroads between the “Novaglia” and the old Via del Volto Santo (VVS). Turn left onto the VVS where you will see a 1.5m stone cross, bearing the date 1847, on your right. Follow the charming VVS for 1.5km all the way to the village of Turlago, crossing the Canalaccio above a little gorge approximately halfway along the path.

The path ends at the little cemetery of Turlago. Continue down the steep tarmac lane to the village itself where, just before the first house on the left, take a left turn onto a grassy back lane and follow it around a righthand bend to meet another tarmac lane — alternatively, if you plan to explore the village, ignore the back lane and continue on to the church (the lane on the left, opposite the church, is the same road that the grassy back lane exits onto) — turn left and follow the lane, that soon becomes a dirt road, away from Turlago. After 300m, and shortly before an electricity pole, fork right onto an obvious forest track. You will be following this track all the way back to the start and finish point.

Just after joining then track, you will pass under a high voltage power line where there is a good view of Fivizzano on your right. The track goes on to pass to the right of Monte Chiaro where once a medieval castle stood. Bear right at a fork in the track to stay on the main route and follow it down to dip, where another path crosses the track. Ignore both the less obvious path on the left that would take you to Terenzano, and the signed path for the VVS on the right. Continue ahead and uphill. You will pass a ruined barn on the left and, after a few undulations, the track becomes steeper and steeper downhill before arriving back at the road to find the Maestà slightly to your left.

Gallery

The Via del Volto Santo

Image 10 of 20

The Via del Volto Santo on the Luscignano side.

Walks with angellightphoto

Visit our leisurely walks page.

Leisurely walks

Walks with angellightphoto

Visit our moderate walks page.

Moderate walks

Walks with angellightphoto

Visit our challenging walks page.

Challenging walks

Walks with angellightphoto

Visit our of easy walks page.

Easy walks

Walks with angellightphoto

Visit our technical walks page.

Technical walks

Walks with angellightphoto

See the complete list of walks.

All the walks

Nigel Fawcett

One of the many benefits of being retired is that I get to spend so much more time in the great outdoors, not only as a photographer but in exercising one of my other great passions — hill walking. This is a particularly good fit when one’s photography centres around nature and the landscape. There can be few better places to do that than here in the beautiful mountains of Tuscany.