The best cycling routes around Varese Ligure

The Pianpintardo Pass is located at 1120 meters on the ridge that separates the Vara Valley from the Taro Valley.

beautiful, quiet pass with picnic area

Situated at 717 meters above sea level, Santa Maria del Taro is a hamlet in the municipality of Tornolo (province of Parma), nestled in the heart of the Northern Apennines, near the border between Emilia and Liguria. Since the early Middle Ages, its strategic position along the ancient ridge road connecting the sea to the Po Valley has made it a transit and trade center, as well as a military and commercial control point. The name itself recalls the religious devotion that has permeated the town for centuries: the church-sanctuary dedicated to the Nativity of Mary, rebuilt in neoclassical style between 1807 and 1834, stands on an older structure and has been the spiritual center of the upper Taro Valley for centuries. The building, with its broad façade and stone bell tower, preserves a deep devotional tradition that is still alive. A short walk from the center is the Ponte dei Priori, a medieval humpbacked stone structure that once served as the only permanent access to the valley and symbolically marked the passage between the lands of the Malaspina and Fieschi families, two powerful feudal families of the Apennines. Over the centuries, Santa Maria del Taro has maintained an identity suspended between Emilian and Ligurian culture, evident in the features of its rural architecture, local dialects, and popular customs.

Situated at 956 meters between the Vara and Aveto Valleys, the Bocco Pass is one of the historic passes of the Ligurian Apennines, used since ancient times as a connection between the Tyrrhenian coast and the Po Valley hinterland. Already in Roman times, it was part of a secondary transit network, but it was especially in the Middle Ages and modern times that the pass assumed a central role in local traffic: a route for merchants, shepherds, and pilgrims, it connected Chiavari and the Riviera with Varese Ligure and the Emilian plains. Traces of the ancient paving are still visible today in the surrounding woods. During the Second World War, the area served as a refuge for partisan groups, thanks to its secluded location and dense forest cover. Today, the pass is a destination for cyclists and hikers, immersed in an unspoiled mountain landscape of beech and fir forests and highland meadows, at the gateway to the Aveto Regional Natural Park.

possible excursions both on foot and by bike

beautiful excursions, simple and suitable for all levels, good opportunities to taste local products

The historic center of Varese Ligure is truly surprising in its urban structure, to the point of deserving the nickname Borgo Rotondo. The medieval building plan, which is due to the Fieschi, had a defensive purpose. In the center is the castle, with its high and sturdy walls. Around it, the houses are arranged in rows following the round curvature of the square, with porticos on the ground floor that allowed access to the shops and warehouses (some of which have now been transformed into public places). Also very interesting are the recently restored eighteenth-nineteenth century buildings with polychrome facades, which recall the pictorial decorations of the past. Furthermore, Varese Ligure is at the center of the Val di Vara biodistrict.

At Colla Craiolo (907 m.a.s.l.) there is a shelter of the National Alpine Association, which also serves as a chapel. Nearby there is also a beautiful fountain.