The history of the fortress is linked to the events of Pistoia's Risorgimento (the period leading towards the unification of Italy) and stores graffiti, writings and drawings in black charcoal and bright red chalk, made by patriotic prisoners.
The Medicean Fortress of Santa Barbara is an important example of 16th century military architecture and was made under the designs of Nanni Unghero, Giovanni Battista Bellucci, called Il Sanmarino, and Bernardo Buontalenti. Its construction was a part of Cosimo the First's territorial policy but its origins date back to the first decades of the 14th century, during the Florentine Republic's supremacy, which also accounts for other, still legible, features…
It is one of Pistoia's undisputed symbols as well as being one of the monuments which render the Cathedral Square truly unique. It is also considered to be one of the finest examples of Tuscan Gothic art.
This wonderful Gothic building, built in the middle of the 14th century over the remains of an even older church, stands in the Duomo Square, in front of the Cathedral of Saint Zeno. Its name was derived from the ancient church of Santa Maria in Corte, over which it was built, dating back to the Lombardic era. Its reconstruction, with its octagonal base, into the building you can see today,…
Standing right on the border between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna, the Abetone Val di Luce area has 50 km of downhill slopes and 17 installations including ski lifts, ski tows, cable cars and treadmills.
The Abetone–Val di Luce ski area, located in the municipality of Abetone Cutigliano in the heart of the Pistoia Mountains, is a premier destination for ski and winter sports enthusiasts. Its peaks, ranging from 1,200 to 1,950 metres above sea level, offer wide, striking panoramas and an ever-changing landscape. It is the largest ski area in central Italy, renowned for the quality of its slopes and for a territory that…
Standing on the Croce Arcana slopes in the Pistoia Mountains, the Doganaccia skiing area has 15 km of downhill slopes, with pistes for both alpine and cross-country skiing.
Within the municipality of Abetone Cutigliano, in the heart of the Pistoiese Mountains, the Doganaccia Ski Area is a small, welcoming resort, ideal for families and for those taking their first steps on skis. It offers about 15 km of slopes, mainly easy and intermediate, with three runs lit for night skiing. The area is equipped with mountain huts and refreshment points and offers a wide range of services: equipment…
Seven routes at varying heights so as to be suitable for all ages, always in total safety, in the Municipality of Marliana in the Pistoia Mountains.
The Spiderpark Adventure Park stands in a lovely beech tree wood, a few minutes from the village of Prunetta. Carefully integrated with these majestic plants- some more than 35 metres high - the park can offer 3, one-metre-high, paths for children between 3 and 8-9 years old, and 4 paths of varying difficulty and heights, for both kids and adults. To put yourself to the test, you can try rock…
On the Croce Arcana slopes, in the town of Abetone Cutigliano, Doganaccia 2000 offers you enjoyable outdoor activities all the year round in the splendid setting of the Pistoia Mountains.
In winter Doganaccia is an important skiing resort in the Central Apennines, with 15 km of slopes for skiing and snowboarding, an area for little sleds and sledges, as well as various tracks which wind through beech forests and wide open spaces where you can practice skiing, go for walks with snow shoes, or go snow kiting and paragliding. Moreover, it is proud to have the largest area of floodlit…
This truly unique park, to be both admired and "tasted", is to be found in Pistoia. There are more than 200 different types of fruit, mostly local Tuscan ones.
The San Jacopo Orchard Park is a park which is unique in its kind, where you can walk, relax and enjoy eating tasty fruit, even picking them directly from the trees. The Park covers roughly two hectares of cultivated land with over three hundred plants, laid out in rows, through which you can actually walk while appreciating an original and naturalistic pathway. The project It was thanks to the bequest made…
Un riferimento per i downhiller dell'Italia centrale, con un mix unico di calda ospitalità e stile toscano, dotato di un'officina e un noleggio bici con le ultime novità.
Abetone Gravity Park is one of the largest bike parks in Italy, with a modern cable car taking you to a height of 700 metres in only 7 minutes. It offers you 5 different plotted courses: a descent course suitable for competitions of any kind, and free-ride and enduro tracks to suit all technical and physical levels. The tracks are from 4 - 6 km long. The cross-country loops or…
This museum can take you on a journey through the lives of its Apeninne inhabitants from centuries past to modern times. It is a part of the itinerary of Daily life of Pistoia Mountains' Ecomuseum.
The Museo della gente dell'Appennino Pistoiese (Museum of Everyday Life in the Pistoia Apennines) takes you on a journey through the lives of this area's inhabitants, from centuries past to modern times, by means of work tools and everyday objects, images, sounds, stories and interactive rooms, which invite visitors to lose themselves in the idea of "making it with your own hands". The museum The principle themes are "to be…
This mountain lodge stands on the Black Lake's edge, a few minutes on foot from the Flat Lake.
The Black Lake Bivouac stands 1730 above sea level in the natural hollow below the 'Alpe Tre Potenze', at the very top of the 'Valle del Sestaione'. It is on the edge of the Black Lake and a few minutes away on foot from 'Lago Piatto'. It has 16 dormitory beds with a fully-equippped kitchen for those staying the night. In summer, it has running water, which it doesn't have…
The museum preserves and hands down to the present, the memory of the events that marked out this territory during the Second World War.
The museum stands in the village of Pianosinatico in the Pistoia Mountains, where the Gothic Line once passed. This was a defensive line, built by the Germans to halt the advancement of the Allies and that effectively cut the Italian peninsula in half, from Marina di Massa, on the Tyrrhenian coast to Pesaro on the Adriatic one. The museum preserves and hands down to the present, the memory of these…
Partially rebuilt in the 18th century by Filippo Achilli, to whom it owes its name, Palazzo Achilli - apart from being the central information point of the Ecomuseum - is also seat to temporary exhibitions and to educational laboratories for adults and children.
Palazzo Achilli, the central information point of the Ecomuseum of Pistoia Mountains, owes its name to the rich, Roman merchant Filippo Achilli who, in the 18th century, purchased the old building - once belonging to the Prince of Piombino Ludovico Appiani, and then took on the task of enlarging and partially reconstructing it. It is now the seat of temporary exhibitions aimed at carefully studying various subjects linked to the…
A path through colours and fragrances in Pistoia's Upper Apennines, created in order to safeguard Biodiversity. It is a part of the Naturalistic Itinerary of the Pistoia Mountains' Ecomuseum.
Thanks to its low temperatures and to the area's rather special microclimate, you can admire and enjoy different types of alpine varieties which, in this part of the Apennines, have reached - regarding their diffusion - their most southern limit. Particularly interesting is the red fir, proof of the existence of ancient populations, in the nearby Riserva di Campolino: this fir, that still today regrows spontaneously, originally came from the…
A fascinating steel structure, 227 meters long and 36 metres high, in San Marcello Piteglio.
The Ferriere Suspension Bridge is a pedestrian walkway that connects the two sides of the river Lima, between Mammiano Basso and Popiglio in the municipality of San Marcello Piteglio. It was inaugurated in 1923 in order to reach the SMI factories in Mammiano Basso more easily. Today it is one of the territory’s main attractions, to live with bated breath. It is realized with structures that rest on four steel cables held tightly in…
The Acquerino forest is an environment of extraordinary biodiversity. The area includes an archaeological park. It is part of the Stone Itinerary od Ecomuseo della Montagna Pistoiese.
It is a vast forest characterized by centuries-old beech woods and glades where rare herbaceous plants can be spotted. It is also a biogenetic reserve. Its rich fauna includes deer (reintroduced in 1950’s), golden eagles and other birds of prey. In the area, an archaeological park was brought to light thanks to a combined effort by the Ecomuseum of the Pistoia Mountains, the Soprintendenza Archeologica, the Italian Forest Service and…
The Madonnina icehouse stands majestically along the grand ducal road near the settlement of Le Piastre and is part of the Ice trail tour of the Ecomuseum of Pistoia Mountains.
The Madonnina icehouse keeps the memories of the hard life and stories of the ghiacciaioli – ice harvesting laborers, as the natural production of ice was one of the main activities in the Montagna Pistoiese until the early part of last century. This proto-industrial activity began at the end of the eighteenth century and was carried out through the Reno Valley between the settlements of Le Piastre and Pracchia, making up the…