For mountain and trekking lovers, the Pistoia mountains offer beautiful routes and charming villages, as well as Abetone, the most famous ski resort in Tuscany.
San Marcello Piteglio is a good starting point for excursions in the splendid Teso Forest, where the Montanaro refuge is located or, for those who are more trained, you can reach the Portafranca refuge in Orsigna.
Rich in historical testimonies since the fourteenth century, San Marcello Pistoiese stands on a hill covered with green woods. Among the localities, the ancient villages of Maresca are of particular interest, located on the edge of the Teso Forest and Gavinana, home to the Francesco Ferrucci Museum and the information point of the Pistoiese Mountain Ecomuseum in the ancient Palazzo Achilli.
The relics of Santa Celestina, patroness of the town and protector of the mountains, are kept in the Romanesque parish church dedicated to San Marcello. From the town you can reach unusual destinations such as the suspended bridge of Mammiano, the Astronomical Observatory of the Pistoia mountains and the SMI Museums and Refuges of Campotizzoro, the largest anti-aircraft underground in Europe.
A 10-minute drive takes you to Cutigliano, a delightful village with excellent restaurants and where the cable car is located to reach the Doganaccia, from where you can easily reach Lake Scaffaiolo where the Duca degli Abruzzi refuge is located.
In the direction of Abetone, going down to Mammiano, you reach the Suspension Bridge, inaugurated in 1923, it was used by the workers to quickly pass from one valley to another to reach their workplace. In 1990 it was entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the “longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world”. Since 2006, the record has been held by a bridge in Japan.
Also noteworthy is the Botanical Garden, near the renowned Abetone, from where you can reach Lake Nero and Alpe delle Tre Potenze, so called because it marked the border between three ancient powers, namely the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Modena and the Duchy of Lucca.
Piteglio dominates the Val di Lima, where the route of the important and ancient trans-Apennine road that connected Pistoia to the Garfagnana ran.
In the XI-XII century. it was a fortified castle, a sighting place under the control of Pistoia. From Piteglio the localities of Macchia Antonini, Crespole, Lanciole, Calamecca and Migliorini are easily reachable.
In the small village there are two churches: the parish church of Santissima Annunziata or Pieve Vecchia, which tradition says was founded by Matilde di Canossa, and the church of Santa Maria Assunta, dating back to the 13th century where the ancient cult linked to the relic of the Holy Milk of the Madonna.
In the town of Popiglio, the parish church of Santa Maria Assunta, one of the most important in the Pistoia mountains, is home to the Diocesan Museum of Sacred Art of the Ecomuseum. An evocative itinerary starts from the parish church and leads to the medieval bridge with a single arch called Castruccio.