The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Hiking Wild Tuscany

Northern Tuscany’s Apennine and rugged limestone Apuan ranges are a world away from the gently rolling hills and vineyards and the madd(en)ing crowds one usually associates with this region. Strangely, until this past month I had never been hiking in Tuscany, confining my brief visits to the tourist meccas of Florence, Siena, and Pisa.

Once again, I booked this one week hiking trip with KE Adventures. We stayed at the lovely Argiturismo Col di Lavacchio for the duration, traveling a few minutes each day to experience some of the best hikes in the area. Join me on this journey, with a surprise bonus at the end.

Col di Lavacchio

The British husband and wife proprietors of this working farm offer guided hiking weeks in the spring and fall, as well as great food and wine in a renovated farmhouse accommodation. As a base for hiking surrounded by nature, it would be difficult to beat. As I was recovering from yet another flare-up of my old nemesis, gout, I enjoyed my first full day here relaxing by the pool, swimming, and strolling some of the many paths at the Agriturismo, rather that participating in the group hike.

Col di Lavacchio Agriturismo
A pool with a view at Col di Lavacchio
Bees on Lamb’s-ear (Stachys byzantina)

Pania di Corfino loop (11.5km and 650m elevation gain)

Monday’s hike in Parco Naturale dell’Orecchiella featured a loop to the summit of Pania di Corfino (Pania means peak in the local vernacular).

Our objective. This photo was taken on our descent.
Canterbury bells (Campanula medium), popular in English cottage gardens since the 16th century
Pania di Corfino summit pano
Rock thyme (Clinopodium alpinum) on the summit
Carthusian pink (Dianthus carthusianorum)

Monte Forato loop from Fornovolasco (12km, 875m elevation gain)

Tuesday’s loop hike from the charming riverside village of Fornovolasco took in an amazing natural arch on the way to the summit with its spectacular views.

Village of Fornovolasco, our trailhead
Wooded mountain view with rock formations during our ascent
The natural arch of Monte Forato
On the summit with Pania della Croce behind, our final objective for the week
The holoparasitic Thyme broomrape (Orobanche alba)
Our KE group on summit ridge. I’m at the back, closest to the edge.
The broad descent gully we took back to Fornovolasco

Monte Maiore loop from Abetone (7km, 275m gain)

As I had kept the rental car from my sojourn near Lago di Garda, I chose to do an alternative hike after our rest/cultural day on Wednesday (which I will explain later in this post). It was only a leisurely morning walk, as can be seen from the stats above, followed by lunch and a stroll around the lovely town of Barga, not far from the Agriturismo.

View towards Monte Lagoni (l) on my wooded Monte Maiore loop hike
Heath spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata). We saw these on other hikes, but on Monte Maiore there were fields of them.
Knotted crane’s-bill (Geranium nodosum), a species I may not have shown before

Pania della Croce traverse from Piglionico (13 km and 950 m elevation gain)

This fantastic – but difficult – hike to the summit of the “Queen of the Alpi Apuane” provided a fitting culmination of the week. The Apuan Alps are known predominantly for their Carrara marble quarries which disfigure the landscape and pollute the streams. We began with a low-level traverse from the east to the west side of the mountain before the climbing proper began.

View south towards Pania della Croce from Barga’s Duomo di San Cristoforo. (Photo taken two days prior).
PeakFinder view north from the initial low-level traverse of Pania della Croce. I really like this free app, where one can download maps ahead of time, obviating the need for a mobile connection.
Our west-side ascent route, mostly exposed to the sun
Apennine globularia (Globularia incanescens), the favorite flower of our local guide, Manuel, is endemic to northern Tuscany
Distant Mouflon (high zoom photo) Manuel and I saw on our ascent. These are now considered to be a feral subspecies of primitive domestic sheep.
Three on the Pania della Croce summit ridge
Pania della Croce summit. Our leader, Jamie, is on the left here.
The Vagabond Hiker in a reflective mood at the summit marker
Summit view northwest. The Ligurian Sea may be seen in the left background.
View towards the Dead Man feature (that green hump) and our descent route. Can you spot the bright green roof of Rifugio Enrico Rossi? Sadly, it was not open for the season until the following day.
Some of our group descending along the summit ridge (zoom)
Our boulder-infested descent gully. Many found it slow going. (photo from another client)
Almost back! Spot some of our group, circled in red.

That’s it for the hiking portion of the week, but for me there was another attraction during my short time in Tuscany. . .

The 2026 Mille Miglia

The auto enthusiast in me could not resist a (likely) once in a lifetime opportunity to see some of the 400+ historic Mille Miglia (literally, “1000 miles”) cars from 1927 to 1957 in action. Our mid-week rest day coincided with Day 2 of the 5-day historic road rally, which fortuitously went from Padova to Montecatini Termi, with the afternoon hill climb over the Abetone Pass (roughly on the border between Emilia Romagna and Tuscany). A last minute decision to procure a hotel room with terrace overlooking the action in Abetone (about 90 minutes’ spirited drive from our Agriturismo) proved to be brilliant.

1927 Bugatti Type 37
1937 BMW 328
1929 Mercedes Benz 710 SSK
Hotel Regina balcony view at dusk, after most of the action had wound down.

As this blog is posted, my three-week stay in Abruzzo is nearly over. Tomorrow I fly to Madagascar for an Explore Worldwide group trip to that amazing island delayed since 2020 when Covid shut down the world. Unfortunately, it is not the trekking trip I had originally booked, but rather more of a walking nature safari. Nevertheless, I certainly hope to capture some interesting photos for another blog later this summer.

The Vagabond Hiker

Lago di Garda hikes and flowers

Once again I had not planned on posting from my time spent at Lago di Garda in Trentino. But not surprisingly I found aspects of some of my favorite hikes as well as new hikes that I have not covered here before. And of course, since it was May, there were many wildflowers in bloom…

I arrived at my Airbnb in Gavazzo – the same one I stayed at in 2023 – to impending rain. Nonetheless, the balcony view south to northern Lago di Garda was stupendous.

I repeated the Monte Colt & Croce di Ceniga loop from nearby Arco as it is one of my favorites in the area.

Here is the paved approach to Santuaurio della Madonna di Laghel.
Monte Colt summit view to Monte Biaina. It is the only summit in Italy I know with its name etched into the rock.

I have mentioned Massone – Bosco Caproni hikes in the past, but never showed many photos as wooded hikes are difficult to capture. With many trails, though, one could spend weeks and never repeat the exact same hike.

Here is a pano towards Lago di Garda from above the village of Massone.
A path through Bosco Caproni, likely in former times used to move marble from the nearby quarry down to Arco.

A new hike for me from nearby Torbole (just east of Riva del Garda) is the popular Busatte – Tempesta Panoramic Trail loop. I started early mid-week, so only encountered hordes of hikers on the last section of the return.

The lake with Riva del Garda and the Cima Valdez massif. There were spectacular views at every turn and numerous sets of metal stairs on this highly-maintained route.
Crimean iris (Iris lutescens), a new wildflower for this blog.
Poppies, Lago di Garda, and the Cima Della Nara massif
Meadow Clary (Salvia pratensis), a more detailed photo of one previously shown. Native to Europe, it is considered a weed in areas of the US.

Many of my hikes were done simply walking out of my Gavazzo (Tenno) apartment. I extended my 2023 forays farther up into the mountains (as well as to the village of Vigne where the local grocery store now has Amazon lockers!)

Monte San Pietro from the road above Volta di No, less than a 1/2 hour walk from Gavazzo. Many local roads had little or no traffic, and often were gravel or packed dirt.
Balm-leaved Arachangel (Lamium orvala), a better photo of one I have shown before.
Rio Bordellino cascade. I rarely encountered anyone in the forest above my apartment. (In Italian, unlike Spanish, Rio refers to a seasonal stream).
Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius). Common they may well be, but I liked this photo.
Peach-leaved bellflower (Campanula persicifolia), a species of Campanula I don’t recall having included in my posts before.

Unlike last year when I stayed in Arco with the popular Sarca River walk as my go-to early morning exercise, I did a variant of this hike only once last month.

Multi-use path and valley view with grapevines on my loop walk to Ceniga from Arco along the Fiume Sarca, seen peeking out to the left here.
Gavazzo balcony view at sunrise. I never tired of the views from my Airbnb and would love to return in the future. Critically for the summers is has AC!
  • A note on the photos: this spring I bought a new Samsung Galaxy S25 phone which has a highly capable camera. All photos from this post were taken with that phone rather than my Olympus Tough camera, which will most likely also be the case for future posts.

After a week at an Agriturismo in Tuscany doing a series of group hikes, I have now moved even farther south, to Abruzzo, where I will remain until the first week of July. Some Tuscan hike photos will be posted in two weeks or so.

Enjoy the longer and warmer days outdoors,

The Vagabond Hiker

Walks, Hikes, and Via Ferrate in the Alta Val Camonica, Brescia (Lombardy)

Located northeast of Milan and west of the Dolomites lies Val Camonica, a valley in Lombardy that’s one of the largest in the Central Alps. It stretches about 90 kilometers between the provinces of Brescia and Bergamo, from Lago d’Iseo to Passo Tonale, Passo Aprica and Passo Gavia. The entire valley is crossed by Fiume Oglio, the fifth largest river In Italy, starting a few kilometers above Vione in Ponte di Legno where two streams meet. At the southern end it empties into Lago d’Iseo, with its waters eventually joining the Po River. The largest rock art site in Europe, with more than 300,000 petroglyphs spanning 8000 years, is found in the lower and middle portions of the valley, which in 1979 was designated Italy’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. With limited time and high summer temperatures, I left exploring this fascinating pre-Roman and Roman history for another visit.

Staying at an Airbnb apartment located in the village of Vione at 1250 mslm, for four weeks I walked, hiked, and climbed via ferrate in the upper (alta) end of the valley, an area I had driven through once in 2018, but had never visited. Portions of two major parks, Stelvio, and Adamello, are found above the Alta Val Camonica, which provided the impetus for my sojourn here. I was doubly fortunate in having my brother and sister-in-law join me for 10 days and a few of the hikes. It certainly took some effort to reduce the nearly 400 photos to some semblance of a reasonable blog post. Enjoy!

Ponte di Legno confluence. This lovely town about 7 km north of Vione was a bit touristy, though I expect nothing like during the winter skiing season.
Val di Cané stream and house. This valley, one of numerous side valleys radiating from Val Camonica, was directly behind Vione, and a popular location for both hikes and picnics.
A betony-leaved rampion
European yellow rattle
View at the head of Val di Cané.
Laghetti di Pietra Rossa, above Val di Cané, taken on my second hike from this valley.
A frog I spotted at the pond in the previous photo
Vista from Bocchette Val di Cané to Val Grande. This pass was the turnaround point for my second hike from this valley.
Horses seen on a loop hike to Bocchette di Val Massa from Val di Cané, my third from this valley.
WWI stone wall at Bocchette di Val Massa. The Italian-Austrian front lines were along many of these mountain passes.
A large-flowered selfheal
The hamlet of Case di Viso, several kilometers above Ponte di Legno, and the starting point for our hike to Rifugio Bozzi where we had lunch.
My brother, Mark, walking at Trincee, old World War I fortifications, adjacent to Rifugio Bozzi
Mark above Passo Paradiso, a hike that started with taking a cabinovia (gondola lift) from Passo Tonale. We went “off-piste” for a bit of scrambling away from the crowds on this hike.
The Vagabond Hiker relaxing above Passo Paradiso
Velvetbells, one of my faves
Presena Glacier and sign mentioning the geotextiles covering it, in a futile attempt to halt the melting. Note Presena Bar 3000 at the upper left. The cabinovia line to the top is not really visible here.
Mark and Norma on a short hike from Bar Presena 3000, at the top station above Presena Galcier. The glacier on the right is the Adamello, the largest in Italy.
Moss campion and granite. Unlike most of the limestone Dolomites to the east, much of these mountains are granitic.
A cottage near Sant’Apollonia, starting point for our challenging hike to the three Laghi di Monticelli
A pano taken at the third lake, the highest of the three
View toward Monte Gavia from the third Laghi di Monticelli. Mark can just be spotted on the right side of the lake here. Less than two weeks later I would attempt to climb Monte Gavia.
Hooved locusts with minder
The Alta Val Camonica above Temù. Walking in the Camonica Valley proper was a great way to enjoy an “off” day.
Creeping bell-flower
Fiume Oglio, above Temù.
A stream on the trail from Val Bione on a Rifugio Petitpierre – Corno d’Aola loop from Rifugio Valbione
Tall yarrow. Most were white, but some a vibrant pink like this example.
Monte Gavia and Monte Gavia “Sud” (on the left) from the trailhead at Passo Gavia. At 2650 mslm, this pass is the highest vehicular pass above the Val Camonica. (NB: the “Sud” appellation is my own invention).
Monte Gavia “Sud” summit view back towards the trailhead and Lago Bianco.
On the summit with Monte Gavia background. After recent rains, an icy descent to the col connecting them convinced me to defer the higher peak to another day.
My last two excursions of note were both Via Ferrate (VF). Here is the less than exciting start to the VF Alpini & Austriaci on the north side above Passo Tonale.
Edelweiss. This single plant near the beginning of the Via Ferrata Alpini was the only one I saw the entire month I stayed in Vione.
Clouds roll in on a north-side traverse
View south down to Passo Tonale
Torrione d’Albiolo summit and cross
The remote Cocchiale basin with three (unnamed) alpine lakes
A local I encountered on the route . . .
. . . and the rest of this Ibex’s family
Up close with some moms and kids. I saw Ibex three days, but on the VF Austriaci I finally managed some decent photos.
Screenshot from the PeakFinder app, taken from my balcony. The two labelled peaks on the Via Ferrata Dei Fiori in the Adamello Mountains are circled in red. Pardon the elevations in feet rather than meters.
Another less than exciting start on Via Ferrata dei Fiori, from Passo Paradiso.
WWI graveyard of barbed wire
View from the Passo del Castellaccio. Some major wooden structure was built here during WWI.
Plank bridges aid this traverse, with two climbers seen in the V-notch on the right. Neither this nor the previous day’s Via Ferrate were all that difficult, provided one doesn’t suffer from vertigo!
Several climbers heading up to Panorama Point, about the only actual climbing on this VF route
A selfie view north on the Via Ferrata dei Fiori
View from the first Passerella
The first Passerella, a VERY long cable suspension bridge
Looking back on a dramatic vista with the second Passerella
Small-leaved gentians and granite
Glacier buttercup. Yes, there were some flowers in this land of rock and ice. Hence perhaps the name Via Ferrata dei Fiori has some justification.
View along the Via Ferrata dei Fiori towards Presena Bar 3000
My lunch view from the Corno di Lago Scuro. Note Bivacco Passo Lago Scuro (bivouac) at the lower right.
Punto di Lago Ghiacciato (upper left) with Bivacco Passo Lago Scuro. From here it was a 45 minute walk to the top of the cabinovia at Bar Presena 3000. Altogether a fine, if a bit crowded (even mid-week) ferrata.
And the obligatory mountain sunset photo. Alpenglow from my balcony in Vione. The amazing views made returning to my apartment each afternoon a pleasure.

Following a brief stay in Hastings, I will depart on Sunday for Minehead in Somerset to embark on another installment of the Southwest Coast Path. Seven days’ hiking west from there will bring me to Westward Ho!, where the challenge of completing this long distance trail started for me more than seven years ago. Stay tuned,

The Vagabond Hiker

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