From the Apennines to the Pietra di Bismantova

For those with strong legs (or fully charged batteries), the Apennines are an open-air gym. The Alta Val Parma network offers eight routes that wind their way through the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park. Don’t miss the Cento Laghi Bike: 25 kilometres at high altitude linking Prato Spilla to Lagdei, passing by 14 glacial lakes. In the Reggio Emilia area, the choice is truly impressive with the Appennino Reggiano Bike: nearly 800 kilometres of trails that skirt the Pietra di Bismantova, the Triassic Gypsum formations and the peaks of Monte Cusna, crossing the lands that once belonged to Matilda of Canossa. Heading down towards the Piacenza area, the Trebbia and Nure Valleys offer wild panoramas, with the unmistakable silhouettes of the Pietre Perduca and Parcellara – a sort of stone guardians composed of ancient oceanic volcanic rock – dominating valleys where time seems to have stood still.