ride through the medieval villages and chestnut woods, with breathtaking views of the peaks of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines or the Apuan Alps.

Lunigiana is an area that lies between three provinces: Massa Carrara, La Spezia and Reggio Emilia, but if you talk to their inhabitants they will tell you that they are neither Tuscans, Ligurians nor Emilians.

This area of ​​Tuscany is in fact, since the most remote times, a transit region with a very strong local identity whose inhabitants, the Apuans, lived perched on the rugged mountains.
The antiquity of this land still transpires today in some peculiar artistic/archaeological evidences: the most famous is undoubtedly that of the Stele Statues, dating back to the Bronze Age.

Preserved today for their majority in a museum to them dedicated inside the Castello del Piagnaro, in the pretty town of Pontremoli (which also hosts the prestigious literary prize "Bancarella" every year), these statues are unique in their kind and their origin is still shrouded in some mysteries.

Pontremoli is located in a valley close to the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, in ancient times crossed by the via Francigena the religious and merchant route that led to Rome from Northern Europe.

Lunigiana is therefore rich in medieval castles and churches. 
For example, going down towards Aulla you will find the castle of Bagnone, that one of Filattiera - which every summer hosts in its medieval village the "Feast of hunger and thirst" -, the suggestive Pieve di Sorano which dates back to the year 1148, or the Terrarossa Castle, one of the many fiefdoms of the Malaspina family.

Going up instead from Aulla towards the Cerreto pass, you enter the Municipality of Fivizzano, whose vast territory extends between the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine National Park and the Apuan Alps Regional Natural Park.
This is an area of ​​high naturalistic interest, rich in endemic flora, where you can enjoy wonderful walks or trekking excursions of one or more days.
The Apuan Alps are in fact a small gem for lovers of hiking and mountaineering, with their sharp peaks a few kilometers from the Versilia sea.

Also this side of the Lunigiana is full of villages perched on low mountains, where rural traditions are still alive, which can be taken advantage of in the summer during the numerous festivals and village feasts.
In Fivizzano of the ancient country remains the Renaissance Medicea Square and of great interest the Museum of typography named after Jacopo da Fivizzano, one of the first European typograher.
For lovers of sulphurous waters Equi Terme is a destination not to be missed in the summer, a period in which the Caves of Equi Cultural Park is also visible, while at Christmas the small village dominated by the mountains turns into a living Nativity.

The culinary specialties are those typical of a poor, farmer cuisine, but nevertheless tasty: we find different types of focaccia and focaccette, cooked in the texts, on the plates, in the ovens, or fried (panigacci, ciàn, pattone, sgabei ...) and made of wheat flour, corn, chestnuts, usually accompanied by delicious local cheeses and meats.
The mushroom - which is abundant in the local woods - becomes the protagonist in the trattorias in autumn: with polenta or noodles, fried or in oil. Another typical specialty of Lunigiana is the "torta d'erbi", a savory pie with a filling of wild herbs, traditionally collected by women in the area.
Lunigiana, due to its not too harsh climate, is enjoyable and offers an interesting face in all seasons of the year.