Carriage road that served as a link to Modena. Also used for the transport of salt, from which it takes its name.

Along its route the road still preserves some structures of the past, such as the stone bridge shown in the photos on the side.

This is a route that from Piazza al Serchio reaches Gramolazzo and then advances into the heart of the Apuan Alps, retracing pastoral paths and tracks sometimes used by smugglers for the transport of salt in the upper Serchio Valley.

The Route and Villages

The road crosses areas of great interest, both for the presence of artificial basins (Lake Gramolazzo) and for environmental and landscape features (group of Mount Tambura, Cavallo, Pisanino and Pizzo d'Uccello), connecting also to the CAI mountain hiking network.

From Piazza al Serchio the path rises along the Acqua Bianca stream to reach the medieval villages of Nicciano, Castagnola and Agliano, the latter overlooking Lake Gramolazzo.

On a hill near the lake stands the bulk of the Old Church, an eighteenth-century building abandoned and only recently restored. In Gorfigliano, inside the new church of San Bartolomeo, ancient sacred furnishings and a medieval wooden statue depicting a holy bishop are preserved.

Apuan Pass and Marble Quarries

The route continues along the Acqua Bianca stream into the heart of the Apuan Alps in a mountain landscape of great interest up to the Focolaccia Pass, before descending towards the Massa side.

An interesting digression of this itinerary is the parallel path through the glacial valley of Orto di Donna up to the mouth of Cardeto towards the Valle degli Alberghi, already in the territory of the province of Massa.

The area is characterized by marble extraction activity with the creation of striking artificial landscapes due to excavation fronts and "ravaneti" (waste material dump sites), which are now a typical element of the Apuan Alps landscape.