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Giulio Ferrari presents: The Via Vandelli

giulio ferrari via vandelli

170 kilometers on foot, from Modena to Massa Carrara, along the first carriage road in the century of the Enlightenment. An itinerary full of breathtaking landscapes and history, mapped by Giulio Ferrari, to whom we asked to tell us about his experience and how the guide was born!

Giulio, tell us about you

I am a scientist, a physicist in particular. I say this because I believe that my studies played an important role in my rediscovery of the Via Vandelli. Now, after ten years of work at university between Italy and Scotland, I have been working since 2011 in the research and development sector in the field of packaging (Tetra Pak). 

I have always walked in the mountains, and I have learned to know my territory, especially the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, with day trips on fairly well-trodden paths. When I decided to walk the Via Vandelli, everything changed. 

I was born on Via Vandelli, so for me it has always been the way home. But I have always known that the Via Vandelli was not only the one I saw in the Modena plain, there was much more: there was the Vandelli nel Frignano, paved with stones and which ran through wonderful woods; the stretch in Garfagnana, which I had a taste of when visiting the lake of Vagli; and finally the portion that crosses the Apuan Alps, whose images had fascinated me since I was a child with those stone hairpin bends between stone mountains that looked like fantastic landscapes. 

So, when I was about to turn 40, I decided, a bit as a rite of passage, that I wanted to walk the entire Via Vandelli, from Modena to Massa. And there I discovered the world of paths, starting from “my” path.

The original construction of Via Vandelli, in the century of the Enlightenment, resembles a great adventure populated by ambitious characters and challenges that seem impossible. What fascinates you about this which was the “mother of all modern roads”?

I am fascinated by the undertaking, above all intellectual and then engineering, of such a work. It is not for nothing that the road was born during the Enlightenment, when humans finally stops believing that the world is guided by magical and mysterious forces and takes it back thanks to the intellect. This happens starting from the idea of ​​the Este Duke Francesco III, who imagines something never seen before, at least since the time of the Romans, that is a paved road that connects his capital, Modena, with the outlet to the sea, precisely to give a new life to his Duchy, thanks to trade. He even wants it to be an extremely advanced infrastructure, that is, that can withstand the passage of the most modern means of transport: wagons for goods and carriages for people, therefore no longer suitable only for transport on foot or by pack. To do this, he needs another enlightened man: Domenico Vandelli, cartographer, engineer and professor of mathematics at the University of Modena. Vandelli’s skills are the right ones to give shape, in a functional way, to this dream.

Think that Domenico Vandelli invented the mathematical tool of isoipse, the topographic level curves that we still use today in maps. 

Three experiences to try absolutely while walking the Way

Surely the last night of the journey to be spent at the CAI “Nello Conti” refuge. Meanwhile, in fact, it is the last night of the journey and the wayfarers have just faced the hardest climb, the one to the Tambura pass (1620 meters above sea level) but they also face the most beautiful panorama, that is the majestic Apuan Alps and the sea. The refuge is at 1442 meters above sea level, reachable only on foot with at least a couple of hours of walking from any starting point; it was built on a pitch opened by Domenico Vandelli himself, in the place of the ancient “Cason de’ Campaniletti” (an inn for eighteenth-century travelers) and, when darkness falls, you are completely immersed in the spectacle of the rock, the spiers and of the sea at the bottom.

Then, I advise all travelers to try the three baths that can be done along the Via Vandelli, very different from each other.The first is the thermal bath under the free shower at 35 ° at Prà di Lama, near Pieve Fosciana. The second is the bath in the pools of icy water of the Renara stream coming down from the Apuan Alps. The third is a swim in the Tyrrhenian Sea, ending the journey, perhaps at sunset, on the beach, which is the ideal Finisterre of the Via Vandelli. For this reason, in the guidebook I recommend that you bring a bathing suit… and I don’t know how many other walking guides it is included as equipment!

Finally, the third suggestion is for a widespread experience. The Via Vandelli is a road that is almost three hundred years old, therefore relatively recent, and of everything that happened and was built on the street and along the road, there remain testimonies: not only the great ducal palaces and fortresses, but also the vestiges of the taverns and inns, the hospitals that are crossed even older than the road itself, the testimonies of the many wars up to the War of Liberation. I recommend fully enjoying the many features that still have the eighteenth-century pavement, to see with your eyes and feel the history under your boot and imagine what it was like to walk it three hundred, two hundred, one hundred years ago and today.

Who would you recommend this route to? 

Via Vandelli is suitable for everyone. Or rather, it is a path that puts each of us back into play to be able to follow it. The level of difficulty is a little higher than that of the paths, even trans-Apennine, of similar length: in 150 or 170 kilometers you face more than 5000 meters in altitude, with the climb between the Apuan Alps that tests physical resistance and perhaps even mental. But it does not present technical difficulties: there are no dangerous stretches and you always walk within reach of towns and cities, while immersed in nature. So everyone can do it, as long as they prepare a little with some mountain hikes, or to further divide the journey with respect to the seven stages proposed in the guide, given that there are many accommodations, including intermediate ones.

In these three years, since it returned to vogue as a path after my seminal walk in 2017, many have already traveled it: mature people, girls alone, ultra-marathoners, adventurers in tents, groups organized in the smallest details, couples, friends… the wayfarers on the Vandelli are already many and different from each other. 

Prossime uscite

consigliato da noi

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    Born in 1994, Terre di mezzo Editore is an Italian independent publisher based in Milan. We publish 100 books per year and we love to explore many and various worlds, from sustainable tourism to the discovery of different cultures, encouraging their coexistence. Our main goal is telling new powerful stories for both young and adult readers, and spreading creativity through sustainable handmade creations with our craft books.
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