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Agriculture Itinerary
It is a not very demanding itinerary developing in the area of Val Bratica, in the north-east of the town of Casarola (Municipality of Monchio delle Corti) for about two hours.
It leads the visitor to discover and appreciate some of the typical landscapes of the Apennine chain, places which have been wisely shaped by man and which still nowadays witness the agricultural history of this area. The imposing centuries-old fruit chestnut groves, the typical dry-stone walls, the several dryhouses (small stone buildings where chestnuts were dried), the meadows, the pastures, and the precious “maestà” with votive icons, are all "signs" of the millennial balance between man and nature.
Notice boards and panels illustrate the most characteristic aspects of the agricultural, sylvicultural, and stock-rearing local traditions.
The chestnuts and the chestnut grove are the central elements of this itinerary and to them detailed descriptions and didactic information are dedicated (biology and ecology of the chestnut grove, illness, graftings and varieties, the processing cycle of the chestnut...).
The itinerary leaves from the town of Casarola, near the "book-shaped" notice board where you can look at the topographical map of the path following the dirt road leading to Montebello and, after about 800 meters, reaching the chestnut wood where the Park has created important structures for the enhancement and the exploitation of this precious and typical environment.
Four old dryhouses have been restructured: two of them have been transformed into bivouacs (eight beds), one is used for the toilets, and the last one as a didactic dryhouse with an area provided with tables, benches, and barbecue. Going downhill, on the left of the route, there is another area equipped with tables, barbecue, and fountain, and nearby, some areas to place tents. Then the itinerary turns right and the uphill path leading outside the chestnut grove begins, and reaches a mixed broadleaf trees wood (oaks, cherry tree, beech...) bordered by meadows and meadows-pastures.
The view towards the upper Val Bratica and the imposing rocky wall of Groppo Sovrano is wonderful: here, if you are lucky and have a good binoculars, you can sight the Golden Eagle.
When the downhill path ends, it is possible to rest in a small area where there is a didactic-demonstrative charcoal pile, whose working is described on a panel.
The itinerary continues across the meadow-pastures where, in summer, the silence is broken by the ringing of the grazing cows. In a short time you will be the town of Casarola, where the path began.
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Culture Itinerary
The short and easy ring-route crossing the small towns of Casarola and Riana is entirely dedicated to Attilio Bertolucci and his works.
Attilio Bertolucci (Parma 1911 - Roma 2000), who is considered one of the main Italian contemporary poets, has left several important literary works; among them, "Sirio" (1929) and "Fuochi in novembre" (1934), other poetry books such as "Viaggio d’inverno" (1971), "La camera da letto" (1984-1988), "Verso le sorgenti del Cinghio" (1993) and "La lucertola di Casarola" (1997), besides the prose collections "Aritmie" (1991) and "Ho rubato due versi a Baudelaire" (2000).
The family of the Poet's father was originary of Casarola, and the deep link of Bertolucci with these places can be found in all its poetry collections, in which references to the Apennine, and in particular to Val Bratica, are frequent.
The whole itinerary is scattered with panels containing some of his most famous poems dedicated to these places, their nature and people.
From the square where the initial notice board is placed, the path enters the upper part of the town of Casarola, and reaches the ancient and beautiful house of the Bertolucci family, where a panel reminds the life and the works of the Poet.
You go back from where you came for a short stretch, and, abandoning the town, the itinerary goes through sweet slopes surrounded by meadows and pastures and it leads to the town of Riana, which you will reach after a few hundred meters, after crossing the stream Bratica.
The itinerary crosses Riana, bordering the ancient court Fontechiari (1650-1859), the old fountain and the Church of the Town, crossing the provincial road, and then descending towards the lower part of the town.
Shortly before an old mill situated on the banks of the Pratica, the itinerary suggests to the visitor a possible and short detour towards the left, where a beautiful mule track leads to a centuries-old chestnut wood, whose incredible fairy-tale suggestions led the local population to call it "The Wood of the Fairies". In this wood, two old dryhouses have been restructured to be transformed into two bivouacs with eight beds and toilets. At the edges of the road crossing the chestnut wood, between ancient dry-stone walls, there is a panel where a text by Paolo Lagazzi (one of the main experts of Bertolucci's works) describes the relationship between the Poet and the Apennine.
Surrounded by a landscape of rare beauty, the suggestions evoked by the verses of Bertolucci lead us in a short journey throughout these woods.
For those who do not want to go across the Wood of the Fairies (or for those who do not come back from that detour) the path goes uphill towards Casarola, going on the right bank of the Stream Bratica, and, after a few hundred meters inside the town, it leads to the departure point.
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Nature Itinerary
It is a beautiful ring-route, demanding both for the walking time (about 6 hours) and the difference in height (almost 700 meters), leading the visitor to the upper Val Pratica, one of the most beautiful and uncontaminated corners of the Park.
The path is long, but it offers several and interesting occasions to get on's breath back: for instance, stopping to read the notice boards and the several panels scattered along the path and describing its most important naturalistic and environmental aspects (fauna, flora, geology…)
You leave from Casarola, in the small square along the Provincial road, and follow the right bank of the Bratica by going across a landscape characterized by the simple mountain agriculture and made of pastures, hedges, and fences. After passing a beautiful fountain, you go ahead climbing, and you begin to see the beech woods, dominated first by coppice, and then by high trunk trees.
After crossing the stream Bratica, the uphill path becomes steeper, and the road enters the Comunello di Casarola (a beautiful high-trunk beech wood of public property) to reach then a stop area adjacent to the rests of an old shepherds' hut. Here the path divides itself into two: on the right (lower by-pass) you begin to climb, among woods and grasslands, up to the ridge where the green pasturelands of Pian del Monte offer a wonderful view over the head of Val Parma.
On the left (upper by-pass to Monte Navert) you go from the wood and the blackberry heaths up to the plateau of Monte Navert (1647 mt.), where in the fresh pastures orchids, gentians, and other protected flowers grow.
Here you will enjoy a 360 degree view over all the valleys of the Park: Val Parma, Val Cedra, and Val Bratica. Afterwards, go back in the direction of Riana along the ridge dividing Val Parma from Val Bratica, going through the pastures of Pian del Monte where the lower by-pass of the itinerary begins.
Go downhill along a dirt road where you will see in the mud the traces of the many animals populating the Park (wild boars, roe deers, foxes, badgers, and wolves).
Going ahead downhill, the path crosses a landscape which becomes more and more agricultural, and then reaches the town of Riana, not before resting in a small area above the town where, near a bench there is a panel dedicated to the Golden Eagle, the precious and rare bird of prey which, if you are lucky, you can see flying in the sky of the Park.
After crossing the town, the path gets to Casarola, where the itinerary ends.
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