From Piazza delle Erbe in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana leave the village by the Castruccio gate. Crossed the Serchio river through S. Lucia bridge, enter the main road keeping the left.

After a couple of bends, turn left to the old provincial road, at the end of which you go over a pedestrian bridge that crosses the main road at Pontardeto. Go back to the main road and on the left, near a household store, take a dirt track which goes along a soccer field and later the railway. After a steep descent, you will reach the lake of Pontecosi and the homonymous village.

After a stop at the lake, take the road on the right leading to the main road, but shortly after the railway viaduct, turn left into a steep road Via Volpaia until reaching the road near the petrol station. Take the road to the left for a few hundred meters and then turn right onto the uphill road that leads to the Garfagnana Golf Club and Bosco di Villa. Go uphill to the ridge of the hill and then go down to the Villa Collemandina lake. Crossed the dam, enter the road that leads to the left after 1 Km to the center of Villa Collemandina.

From the S.Sisto church on the right, an easy dirt road through Tramonti leads after few kilometers to the mediaval walled town of Castiglione di Garfagnana.From the main gate of the village (‘Drawbridge gate’), turn right and follow the main road downhill leading to Pieve Fosciana, until the crossing on the left to the village of Sillico.

After 1.5 km, take a large dirt road on the right towards “Agriturismo Ai Frati” and ‘La Piella’ campsite. This roads, firstly flat then downlhill, keeping the left, reaches the Convent of S. Giuseppe above Castelnuovo di Garfagnana. Continue to the hospital and going down, you will return to town.

Departure: Castelnuovo di Garfagnana

Km: 22

Slope: 605 m

Highest Point: 534 m

Suggested Period: all year around

Castruccio Castracani Castelnuovo
Lago di Pontecosi di Pieve Fosciana