Horizons of freedom – Battlefield Tours

The area of the Giogo Pass in the Community of Scarperia and S. Piero (FI) in September 1944 is the theater of one of the key battles of the breaching of the Gothic Line. Our association has mapped the bunkers and the other positions still detectable in order to provide to recover and restore those functional to the project of hiking trails. The trails are of varying difficulty and length, including those accessible to people with reduced mobility. The project takes into account the preservation and management of natural and cultural heritage.
The intervention involves the area of the Community of Scarperia and San Piero that is located on the ridge that divides the Mugello from the Alto Mugello, between the municipalities of Scarperia and San Piero and Firenzuola in the area of Giogo Pass.

Giogo pass aerial view – 1944

The first stage saw the mapping of the bunkers and the other positions with the creation of a database to correlate archive's information with the reliefs on the ground.
The second phase has identified the useful bunkers and positions to the realization of trails of varying length and difficulty (including those for people with reduced mobility).

Horizons of freedom – Battlefield Tours A and B

• Itinerary “A” – Yellow; attack to Monte Altuzzo from the east side. – Duration 2:30 – Difficulty EE
• Itinerary “B” – Blue; Monte Altuzzo – Duration 1:30 – Difficulty E – partial PMR Accessibility
• Itinerary “C”; Omomorto – Monticelli – Monte Altuzzo – Omomorto – Duration 6:30 Difficulty EE

From Monte Altuzzo looking south: the free part of Italy in September 1944

The third stage saw the planning for the restoration of the military locations identified and the positioning of information panels. The area is entirely comprised in the Apennines and represents one of the areas of high environmental value located between the regions of Tuscany and Emilia Romagna.
The museum plays a key role with the exhibitions strictly linked to the events of the area. The project is integrated with the “Museo Diffuso” that is the local museum system. The “Museo Diffuso” gathers several realities present in the towns of the Mugello, the Alto Mugello and the Sieve Valley: it is divided into systems, each of which includes museum points, educational laboratories, and itineraries.
This project involves the coordination and presentation in the form of thematic paths of all the activities organized by the associations and entities connected to the “North Apennines Po Valley Park” (NAPV). The NAPV offers, with its own museum network, an interpretation based on the events of the 2nd World War of the Italian landscape different to the traditional artistic and gastronomic approaches.