Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Along an Ancient Road at Sassalbo


Last Sunday, seeing that the weather was awful on the Emilian side of the Apennines, but on the Tuscan side it was a sunny autumn afternoon, I decided to return to a fascinating footpath that starts at Sassalbo, MS.
Sassalbo MS

Sassalbo MS

Sassalbo is just below the Cerreto Pass, isolated in the Valley below the main modern SS63 road that runs down to Aula. Sassalbo was once an important staging post on the most ancient of the roads that cross the Cerreto Pass. It was a stretch of this road called the Via Modenese which I decided to follow. 
A small anonymous alley between a row of houses, after a few hundred meters, soon becomes a fascinating trip back into the past, when this was the main road between the Lunigiana and Reggio Emilia.
Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo, MS

Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo, MS

Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo, MS

Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo, MS


Dry stone walls border the road paved with large flagstones, as you pass through the sweet chestnut woods, once a vital source of sustenance for the local population. 

Sassalbo,MS

Sassalbo, MS

Sassalbo MS
As the path rises above the woods the flagstone gradually disappears and the path becomes a narrow footpath. Another forest trail takes us to Lago Padule a large lake hidden away in the woods.
Lago Padule, MS

Lago Padule, MS

Lago Padule, MS

Lago Padule, MS

Lago Padule, MS

I retraced my steps as the sun was sinking bathing the ancient road through the woods with a golden light.
Via dei Modenese, Sassalbo,MS

Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo,MS

Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo, MS


Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo,MS

Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo,MS

Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo,MS

Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo, MS

Via dei Modenesi, Sassalbo,MS

Sassalbo, MS
I also brought back a nice bag of chestnuts.  

Thursday, October 11, 2018

Early Autumn



Autumn is just starting up in the Apennines. I managed to find a short break in the weather on a stormy Sunday afternoon to photograph Lago Padula, near Cerreto. 
Lago Padula, Cerreto, RE

Lago Padula, Cerreto, RE

Lago Padula, Cerreto,RE

Lago Padula, Cerreto, RE

Cerreto, RE

Cerreto, RE

Cerreto, RE

Lago Padula, RE

Lago Padula, Cerreto, RE

Cerreto Laghi, RE

Cerreto Laghi, RE

Cerreto Laghi, RE
Between appointments on Wednesday I took a shot autumn walk around Guastalla. I saw the newly renovated Palazzo Ducal before taking a stroll along the PO.

The Ducal Palace in Guastalla dates from the fifteenth century, but it was remanaged heavily in the nineteenth century with the construction of a steel and glass roof over the central courtyard.


Palazzo Ducale, Guastalla, RE

Palazzo Ducale, Guastalla, RE

Palazzo Ducale, Guastalla, RE

Palazzo Ducale ,Guastalla, RE

Palazzo Ducale, Guastalla, RE

Palazzo Ducale, Guastalla, RE

Palazzo Ducale ,Guastalla, RE

Palazzo Ducale, Guastalla, RE

Guastalla, RE

Guastalla, RE
Lido Po, Guastalla, RE

Lido Po, Guastalla, RE

Lido Po, Guastalla, RE

Lido Po, Guastalla, RE

Lido Po, Guastalla, RE