Passo del Cerreto, in the heart of the National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennine

The Passo del Cerreto (Cerreto Pass) connects Lunigiana with the Montagna reggiana, Tuscany with Emilia, Fivizzano with Castelnovo ne Monti through rural villages, streams, bridges, chestnut, beech and fir forests, hairpin bends, climbs and descents. Here we cross National Park of the Tuscan Emilian Apennine, which has its own Visitor Center on the Pass.

Also on these roads, as often in Lunigiana, the champions of the Giro d'Italia battled it out. "In 2007 the Reggio Emilia - Lido di Camaiore descends into Lunigiana from the Cerreto Pass, while in 2010 the roads of Fivizzano characterize the distance between Fidenza and Marina di Carrara. In the pink jersey is a young domestique of high hopes, Vincenzo Nibali. The riders descend from the Passo del Brattello, at Aulla they turn towards the area around Fivizzano and at Ceserano they take the Spolverina... Of the crowded breakaway that came about shortly after the start, only the Australian Mattew Lloyd holds out, arriving alone at the Carrara waterfront!" (Davide Tondani - Il Corriere Apuano).

We propose an itinerary with departure and return from the Piazza Medicea in Fivizzano, a remarkable historic center in Lunigiana. From here you immediately start climbing through a nice asphalt surface, curves and hairpin bends. Even in summer you can enjoy the coolness of the woods and the view of the Apennines and the Apuan Alps "forces" everyone, even the most competitive, to stop for a photo.

When you reach the Pass, you enter Emilian territory and continue to climb for a few more kilometers to the 1355-meter altitude of Cerreto Laghi, a beautiful village on an elevation with a ski resort. Here lunch is well-deserved and there is plenty of choice between Lunigiana and Emilian dishes that blend here.