Castelnuovo di Garfagnana

Castelnuovo di Garfagnana is the historic capital of the Garfagnana — the deep mountain valley between the Apuane Alps and the Tuscan Apennine main ridge, 50 km north of Lucca along the Serchio river. The town anchors the valley politically and economically; 5,600 residents, the only real services (hospital, secondary schools, government offices) for the 30,000 people of the Garfagnana comuni around it. The historic core is the Rocca Ariostesca — Ludovico Ariosto served as governor of the Garfagnana for the Este Dukes of Ferrara 1522–1525 and lived in this fortress while writing the final additions to the Orlando Furioso, complaining bitterly in letters to friends about being stuck among 'bandits and chestnut-eaters'.

The Rocca is now the municipal museum. The Fortezza di Mont'Alfonso, a much larger Este fortress on the hill above town (1579, built to control the trans-Apennine trade), is now a cultural centre and concert venue with the most photographed view of the Apuane peaks. Castelnuovo is the gateway for: the Apuane Regional Park (white-marble peaks of Carrara seen from the back), the Parco dell'Orecchiella higher up, the Grotta del Vento show cave (45 min south), the Eremo di Calomini cliff-monastery, and 200+ km of marked Apennine trails. The food: farro della Garfagnana IGP (emmer wheat, used in zuppa di farro, the valley's identifying dish), castagne and the chestnut-flour necci + castagnaccio + neccio sandwiches at every bakery, the formentone otto file (a special local maize cornbread), pecorino della Garfagnana, biroldo (a sweet-spiced blood sausage), and salt-cured prosciutto bazzone from the indigenous Garfagnana pig breed.