The name of the village comes from the Latin prunulus, meaning blackthorn: and that alone says a great deal.
Prunus is already mentioned in a parchment of 804, and the settlement may have existed even in the late Roman period.
Certainly, in the Middle Ages Pruno was a small village. The little church dedicated to San Nicolò bears witness to this: a jewel of Romanesque architecture jutting out over the valley, enlarged in the 1600s and embellished further in the 1700s. The 22-metre bell tower is also remarkable.
Pruno’s hidden wealth also lies in the walks and excursions into the heart of nature that start from there.
The Cascata dell’acqua pendente is spectacular and truly majestic. The path to reach it starts from Pruno: it takes about 1 hour to get to the waterfall.
Once past the church, follow the road that goes down to the village cemetery. From there, follow the steep downhill road to an abandoned quarry.
Beyond it, after a few minutes’ walk, you come to a beautiful humpback bridge that lets you cross the stream.
Nestled among the Apuan Alps, between Monte Forato, Procinto, Monte Nona and the Pania della Croce, Pruno is the starting point of numerous CAI paths leading to mountain huts and peaks of the Apuan Alps.
Among them, we recommend the beautiful Path 122. Not very long (9 km, about 2 hours’ walk), it leads from Pruno to the Passo dell’Alpino, from where those who wish (and it is recommended) can continue to the Foce di Mosceta along another path.
The climb is continuous, though not difficult, so you need to be fit. Through spectacular views and mountain pastures, you also reach the old CAI hut of Viareggio, now a ruin.
For the detailed route, click here:
https://www.escursioniapuane.com/SDF/Sentiero122.html
Volegno
Right opposite Pruno, on the other side of Monte Alto (882 m), lies the village of Volegno. People used to say: “From Pruno to Volegno women go to the evening gathering”, to express the closeness of the two hamlets.
Volegno has a name that evokes a very ancient history. The place name recalls the Ligurian sun god, Beleno-Belenio, iconographically represented with a radiate head. Around mid-May, the shadow of Monte Forato falls on a small wood a few metres east of Volegno: a place where shamans surely performed initiation rites at the dawn of the solstice.
Volegno is mentioned for the first time in a document of 1018 concerning the ownership of some leaseholds. It was later one of the first communes, in the time of the Florentine republic, to draw up its own statute, which was approved by Florence on 29 April 1524.
There you will find the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie. It was originally an oratory dedicated to the Madonna della Pergola, built in 1491 by decree of the Archbishop of Lucca. Although the present building dates from the twentieth century, it preserves the high altar (sixteenth century) of the Pisan school, and two canvases, one depicting the Madonna of Loreto between Saint Ambrose, Saint Luke and Saint Nicholas and the other a Madonna of Mount Carmel with Saint Philip Neri: these too date from the sixteenth century.
Cardoso
Cardoso lies immersed in a chestnut wood near the Farneto stream.
It was formed in 1407 through the union of the villages of Malinventre and Farneta.
In the centre of the village stands the church of Santa Maria Assunta, dating from the eighteenth century, with the choir frescoed by Ranieri Leonetti (1821-1883), a native of Cardoso, and the baptismal font by the Florentine Donato Benti, dated 1528.
In the woods above the village the ruins of the walls of the village of Casamenta have been found, destroyed by Castruccio Castracani, lord of Lucca, during his punitive expeditions in Versilia: here stands the church of San Leonardo, rebuilt in memory of the former parish of the vanished village.
Near San Leonardo, in the locality of Trogna, a site of rock engravings depicting feathered blades dating from the pre-Christian period has recently been found and made easily accessible.
The Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Stazzema
Do not miss a visit to the other Church of Santa Maria Assunta, towards Stazzema.
It is a sacred place of great charm, whose origins date back as far as 850 AD.
At that time the church had a single-nave structure; over the centuries it has undergone architectural changes. Its present form dates from the thirteenth century.
The façade of the church is adorned with a fresco by the master Marcello Tommasi depicting the baptism of Jesus. Inside, besides the lovely coffered ceiling, the Assumption of the Virgin by Pietro da Talada and a marble Saint Anthony Abbot attributed to Niccolò Civitali stand out. The organ, built in 1787, is also precious, with its baroque-style case enriched with gilded wooden sculptures.
On the left side of the façade is set an ancient Roman urn of the first century AD, the only remnant of the Roman temple of Mercury!
The local cuisine
And then comes the time to sit down at table. And here the feast begins.
The king of dishes is the tordelli (pasta filled with minced meat) dressed with ragù sauce.
But how could you not try the “quarti fritti” or “panzanelle” (leavened dough like pizza, then fried), served with or stuffed with delicious, fragrant cured meats, strictly local, such as Cardoso mortadella.
For dessert, try the “castagnaccio”, the famous chestnut flour cake baked with rosemary and pine nuts, and the “necci” or “ciacci”, a batter similar to crêpes made of chestnut flour and water, cooked on the “testi”, the hot plates over the fire, and then filled with ricotta (or Nutella)…
