Wild Heart of Tuscany Alpi Apuane il turismo nel cuore selvaggio delle Toscana

"They might be not so high but don't lack in anything to be considered great mountains...", so, in the middle of XIX century, must have thought Gustavo Daglas, one of the most influential voices of the  Florence section of C.A.I., while writing the article "La Pania della Croce" in which he called the Apuane Mountains "the small Alps".
This is an appropriate expression for mountains full of surprises despite of their extension, such as the Apuane Mountains.
Orientated from NW to SE like most of the Tuscan mountains, thi mountain chain is about 60 Km long, 20 Km wide and covers a surface of 1080 Km.
It runs from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Apennines from which it is separated by the Serchio river.
The two side are quite different: very steep the Tyrrhenian side, much more gentle and accessible the other one.
This is due to complex geological phenomenons but olso to the quarries that have aggravated the natural morphology.
Looking at them on the background, these mountains seem higher than they really are; they are a majestic scenary looking impenetrable but barely they graze two thousand meters.
The Apuane Mountains are, in all their aspects, a unicum still not well known, despite of their numerous treasures, like the many plants that in this harsh environment are able to crate a micro habitat where they  can proliferate and remain confined.
Among these endemic species, probably the most representative example is Borla corn flower (Centurea montis-barlae Soldano), a composite that has "chosen" to live only on the slopes of the mountain from which it takes its name, although  it is constantly threatened by th activities of the surrounding quarries.
The creation of a botanic garden here, and the attention of us all, could save this very rare flower, as well as all the others, growing close to Pianza mountain pass.
The highest is M. Pisanino (m 1946) and only a few exceed 1800 meters: M. Cavallo (m 1899), M. Tambura (m 1890) and Pania della Croce (m 1859), but many others show a beautiful outline ( Pizzo Uccello, M. Roccandagia, M. Contrario, M. Altissimo).
Because of the peculiar morphology, rich of sharp shapes, crags and steep slopes, the Apuane Mountains compared to the Apennines which are closer but with much more gentle slopes, merited to be called "Alps".
This happened during the Napoleonic time, when the Cisalpina Republic was proclaimed.
Before that, the whole chain was called "Panie", probably from the word "penna" with its  archaic meaning "rocky mountain", which is still used, with some phonetic variations, by the people living in Garfagnana.
The Karstic nature of the massif, characterized by about one thousand underground caverns, made it, during the past eighty years, an interesting destination for speleologists and potholers.
The deepest is Abisso Roversi (-m 1350), reached at end of the twentieth century by a team of speleologists from florence, after being discovered in the 70s by a team from Bologna.
Recently three underground caverns have been equipped with low-impact ladders and bridges to open them to the public: Grotta del Vento (nearby Vergemoli), Buca d'Equi (nearby Fivizzano), Antro del Corchia (nearby Levigliani).
The Biggest karstic system with its 60 km length, located in a sort of parallelepiped 3 km long and 2 km wide a 45° NE, is the one inside M. Corchia.
This system covers almost 35% of all the Apuane Mountains underground caverns but recently it has been discovered a new system of caves, maybe even bigger, inside M. Tambura.
Since we have not respected the environment of the surface, my wish would be to see more respect toward the underground.
At least the quarries have been a resource for generations of men who otherwise would have starved to death, in a period in which tourism was not a source of income.
Nowadays things are different and we have come to a time in wich we have got the concept of a sustainable development able to reconcile our needs with a respecrful attitude toward the environment.
For obvious reasons, defending the enviroment is now the only solution open to us capable to improve this area and preserve life on this planet.
There is a project about tunneling M. Tambura to upgrade the road system of this area, but i do not think it would bring any benefit to Vagli and even less to Resceto, a village with an economy based on pastoral farming.
During the 18th century the route Vandelli tried to change the economic situation of this area but it falied.
Infrastructured is not everything; a peculiarity, its typical products, its art and also its landscape.
Tunneling a mountain here is at least a debatable choice.
First of all, once you would find 6 km of winding narrow roads, before being able to see the seaside; Second the landscape would be defaced; third the hydrogeological equilibrium would be damaged with consequences that may set off landsslides.
The name M. Tambura means drum mountain (tamburo = drum) because it is a hallow mountain; tunneling it wuold be at least very risky.
In the past tourism was not developed and the mountains could not offer much, but things have changed.Regional parks, such as The Regional Park of the Apuane Mountains, are attractions for people from all over the world and therefore preserving natural environments is not only ethically correct but also profitable.
An underground paradise such as the caves in M. Tambura could be a golden opportunity, maybe the last chance to heal our relationship whit Mother Nature.

This is a little part of Marco marando's book: "Apuane in Trekking" wrote in 2 lenaguges italian and english, you can buy thi book at this link