Via Francigena | 11 | Tuscany, nice to meet you

Via Francigena Part 11 route map

Pontremoli ~ Aulla ~ Sarzana ~ Massa ~ Pietrasanta |

Distance: 113km (1,622/1,900km) |

S l o w time: 6 days |

Medieval towns & festivals | The Apuan Alps  | Liguria | the Mediterranean Sea |

So er, we love Tuscany. We lived in Tuscany in 2016 and our affection for the place is one of the reasons we decided to walk the Via Francigena in the first place. The Via Francigena is at its most popular in Tuscany (read: still pretty deserted), but it’s a LONG way down from Canterbury – you’re 4/5ths of the way through the entire walk! Admittedly not the quickest route to get to Tuscany, but we were majorly excited to see it again after all this time.

But here’s what we realised when we got to the border: we didn’t actually know Northern Tuscany at all. Nope, we’d never been further north in Tuscany than Lucca.

And that’s the beauty of a walk like the Via Francigena: it runs through entire regions, beginning middle and end. We would get the chance to walk the length of Tuscany, finding parts we didn’t know were there.

So here’s our getting-to-know-you notes on North Tuscany – oh, and also a tiny bit of Liguria too, another region we are only just finding out about.

This far north part of Tuscany begins right after the Passo della Cisa, off the back of the glorious Apennines. We slid down into Pontremoli (a sing-song ‘Pon-treeeh-moli’), so happy to be back in Tuscan towns. It had a moody medieval look which we remembered so well about Tuscany, tottering and narrow, built over two rivers and laced together by no less than six bridges. Six!

Medieval heritage is big in Tuscany and Pontremoli was true to form: we found we overlapped with the town’s annual medieval festival. The streets were choc-a-bloc with stalls and performers, banners fluttering in a balmy breeze.

Now we don’t normally go in for dress up festivals, but this was irresistible: joyful, bustling and so warmly Tuscan. There was also SO much going on, it was hard not to find something diverting, be it impromptu medieval folk bands or a 7ft faun making small children cry.

But after all the fun of the (medieval) fair, we left Pontremoli to round more mountains. The Via Francigena scoops round a little section of the Apuan Alps, and the Apuane really are spectacular: jagged and dramatic on the skyline, they reach over 1,940m. This walk from Pontremoli to the next stop of Sarzana is one tranquillo trail. A bit steep (switchbacks, our old friends), but high and panoramic, always with these guys as companions.

The little Apuan path also picked its way through some incredible mountain villages, tiny with sheer sides stuck out on the hills and rocks. Their own worlds.

One we have to tell you about is Ponticello, 1,400 years old, possessing the narrowest and smallest streets of all the narrow and small streets. More like a burrow than a village, tiny doors and staircases hived off down dark tunnels and alleys in very direction. To wander those streets was to step through the wardrobe into Narnia.

This was a Tuscany that was and wasn’t familiar to us. Yes, we were back in those shady cobbled streets, walking Roman roads over hills and farms. But this Northern part felt truly off the beaten tourist path, undisturbed high up in the mountains. Florence or Siena seemed far, far away.

You got the impression you didn’t know quite what you would find next, hidden away behind the next hilly bend – our favourite type of travel.

And so it was, as our last major climb burst out at the top to the most stupendous, surreal sight. We finally glimpsed the Mediterranean Sea, the first bit of ocean we had seen since Dover. We had thought about this moment for a long, long time; how impossible it seemed to find the Med when you walk out of a place like Canterbury. But there it was. That moment was so much more emotional than you can imagine.

As we slowly descended from the Apuans, we did a funny one-day hop into a corner of Liguria, staying in Sarzana, a city of incredible style. Creeping plants and flowering pots decorated every street and road, beautiful cafes nestled within them. Busy with people holidaying by the beach, it was obvious our time in the mountains had finished. It was a moment of odd nostalgia, tinged with sadness and sweetness. Another part of the Via Francigena finished.

The next few days the sea became our constant right-hand man. We diverted down to stand right by the water’s edge, skirting the beach way before any sunbathers were up. It’s frankly weird to wander through deck chairs and palm trees when you’ve been going over mountains, camping in fields and wandering Romans roads for three months. But it was a second of calm, to float free and think about where we were. But we soon re-joined the Via Francigena path, cutting up to Massa, with its perfect marble cathedral. (Actually, pretty much marble everything – Massa is near the Carrara marble quarries.) Liguria no more, this meant we were back in Tuscany.

The Via Francigena takes you up the hill behind Massa and by the Castello Malaspina. One of these old medieval fortifications, it’s perched along the cliff, the sea in front, the marble mountains behind. No words, just an amazing place.

Over the hill -where we conveniently ran out of water, not much up there- is Pietrasanta, and another tangible change of vibe. Pietrasanta is chic.  Italian women walk the streets in giant sunglasses and towering heels. American voices seemed to suddenly be everywhere. The shops were elegant, the main square creamy white. And their high street is festooned with a pretty tourist touch: thousands of multi-coloured umbrellas, hovering above in perfect lines.

Its open, elegant holiday atmosphere began to feel a bit more familiar. And so it should: we were now just a few kilometres from Lucca, and Tuscany’s heartlands. But so long farewell to the North, the quiet of the mountains and the sense of adventure. We know we’ll be back.

But not before the Tuscany of ours: starting in Lucca soon…

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