On ancient paths of untold history

On ancient paths of untold history

A circular walk from Reusa via Vedriano & the stone cross

Reusa, along with its adjoining hamlets of Pastena and Il Palazzo Groppolo, is set in an elevated location with fine views across the upper Aulella valley to the Alpi Apuane. This delightful walk uses a combination of lanes, woodland tracks, and country paths to create a route that is very pastoral in nature on the way out and deeply forested on the way back. The walk includes sections of two ancient roads — one is on the Via del Volto Santo and gets plenty of footfall, while the other lies hidden in the forest and is almost unknown.

Walk summary

Grade: ModerateLength: 6.4km
Circular? YesDuration: 1h 45m
Start: N44.21515º E10.16998ºFinish: Same
Max elevation: 715mMin elevation: 495m
Total ascent: 287mTotal descent: 287m

Equivalent flat distance: 8.67km — 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 point for this walk is the water fountain at the Fivizzano end of Reusa where there is plenty of space to park.

From the fountain, walk into Reusa and turn right into the historic centre at a “double bend” road sign. Turn left as you reach the church and campanile to rejoin the main road. Turn right and continue along the road, crossing a bridge at a hairpin bend, until you reach a fork in the road. Take the left fork, signed to Vedriano, and follow it up into the quiet little village.

From the parking area on the edge of the village proceed through the archway, passing an interesting water fountain set into the wall, and continue until you see a statue of the Madonna at a viewpoint on the right. From here, turn left onto the Via Del Volto Santo (VVS) (blue way marks) to exit the village along a path that soon becomes grassy.

The path follows the boundary between olive groves on the left and forest on the right. A little later, the olive groves peter out and you enter a short stretch of woodland that then becomes broom scrub with views down onto Reusa as the path bends to the right. As the path descends to a stream it again becomes a boundary path with forest on the left and olive groves on the right this time. After fording the stream, the path rises to join a wider forest track where you should turn left and follow it to the edge of the hamlet of Groppolo.

At the edge of the hamlet stay on the VVS by turning right up a steep cobbled lane that continues well beyond the last property. When the path appears to run out, turn right on a rough path (plenty of blue way marks) to cross a landslip that was caused by an earthquake in 2013. The VVS turns left at the top to climb up to a crossroad where the VVS continues past a stone cross but where our route turns left on the much wider old road that is locally called the “Novaglia”.

Descend the track until just before an electricity pylon you turn left onto a narrower path into the forest. The forest eventually becomes a pine plantation and the path becomes indistinct when it reaches the top of a hill where original chestnut trees still grow. This is the one part of the route that is difficult to follow and where you should ignore any blue paint marks! The blue marks here are forester marks and do not denote any path. Instead, keep to the boundary between the chestnuts on your left and the pine trees on your right. As the land descends, a faint path starts to develop, becoming more distinct as it turns right. From here the path becomes obvious again as it snakes its way downhill to rejoin the main road. Turn left at the road and follow it back to Reusa.

Gallery

In the pine forest

Image 19 of 20

Dappled autumn light

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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.