17/08/2026
Sometimes the journey really is as beautiful as the destination 🇮🇹
Yesterday I drove from Forte dei Marmi on the Mediterranean coast back home to Coreglia Antelminelli, taking the mountain route straight through the extraordinary Apuan Alps.
Leaving the sea behind, I climbed through Seravezza and into increasingly dramatic mountain scenery, surrounded by towering limestone peaks, marble quarries, deep ravines and tiny villages clinging to the hillsides.
I passed beneath Monte Corchia and Monte Sumbra, before disappearing through the Cipollaio Tunnel, which cuts through the mountains and takes you from Versilia into the wild, green landscape of the Garfagnana.
Then came beautiful Isola Santa, its tiny medieval village sitting beside an emerald reservoir created by the hydroelectric dam. Quite an unexpected sight hidden amongst the mountains.
From there I followed the Turrite Secca down towards Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, before joining the Serchio Valley and eventually climbing again towards Coreglia Antelminelli.
The fascinating thing is that the journey crosses the Apuan Alps before finishing on the slopes of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, with the Serchio Valley lying between the two great mountain ranges.
In little more than an hour, you travel from Mediterranean palms and beaches to marble mountains, tunnels, dams, chestnut forests and medieval Tuscan villages.
Quite some drive home!
Iain 🇮🇹🚘
