From Prato to Bologna, a new trans-Apennine connection route

It is a journey of over 130 km which, starting from Piazza Duomo in Prato, arrives in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna.
The route connects two cities that through their rivers and similar and coeval hydraulic works, have built their economic development over the centuries.

In Prato are the hydraulic systems of the Cavalciotto and the "Gorone" (big millpond) of Santa Lucia along the river Bisenzio, on which the project "Riversibility - the Bisenzio river park" is developing, which will recover the link between the city and the river promoting urban well-being; the Calvana massif where, on the meadows of Retaia, "Calvana" bovine specimens graze, and just beyond, on Poggio Corolla you can meet wild horses; the Abbey San Salvatore in Vaiano is an architectural jewel that preserves ancient tanks of the gualchiera and Longobard tombs, the Abbey in Montepiano built at the end of the year one thousand near the hermitage of the blessed Peter and the Memorial Park of the Gothic Line. On the Emilian side are the hilly area and the chestnut groves of Storaia and Rasora, the eastern edge of the Suviana and Brasimone Lakes Regional Park, the ancient heart of Castiglione and the woods of Camugnano and Monte Vigese, the Morandi barns of Campiano and the memories of the Historical Park of Monte Sole, Colle Armeno and Palazzo dei Rossi, the Chiusa and the Reno Canal. In Bologna, the Chiusa di Casalecchio and the Reno Canal brought to the ciy the waters used as a driving force to move hydraulic factories, mills and fulling mills to produce those fabrics, respectively wool and silk, which made the textile districts of Prato and Bologna famous throughout the world. This made Bologna one of the European capitals in silk production from the middle of the fourteenth to the end of the eighteenth century.

Proposed stages:

1st STAGE: PRATO - VALIBONA VAIANO
22 km; difference in height + 900m, - 1000m; 7/8 hours

2nd STAGE: VAIANO - VERNIO
21 km; difference in height + 1000m, - 110m; 7 hours

3rd STAGE: VERNIO - CASTIGLIONE DEI PEPOLI
20 km; difference in height + 800m, - 1250m; 7 hours

4th STAGE: CASTIGLIONE DEI PEPOLI- GRIZZANA MORANDI
22 km; difference in height + 1100m, - 1050m; 7 hours

5th STAGE: GRIZZANA MORANDI - SASSO MARCONI
27 km; difference in height + 1400m, - 950m; 8/9 hours

6th STAGE: SASSO MARCONI - BOLOGNA
20 km; difference in height + 230m, - 200m; 6 hours

Info: www.viadellalanaedellaseta.com

Credenziale Via della Lana e della Seta (582.7 KB)

KIT - Route of Wool and Silk (2.1 MB)