Between Cisa’s and Forbici’s paths the woody ridges which separate Tuscany from Emilia make way for a true mountain environment. The tops of Succiso Alp, Mountain Prado and Mountain Cusna are over 2000 m, the woods make way for high-flying rocks, lakes and meadows. Further down, in the Emilian side, the unique Pietra di Bismantova overlooks the landscape with its vertical faces, meanwhile in the Tuscan side Pania di Corfino’s chalky bastion stands out.

It is a territory where the eagle and the wolf find an ideal habitat, but it is also a territory where the man lived always with its traditional activities as agriculture, sheep farming, forestation and  touristic reception, added in the later years.

In 2001 Tuscan-Emilian Apennine National Park was born in this area with the purpose of protecting this extraordinary environments’ richness and of promoting a sustainable tourism. In the Tuscan side it includes the municipalities of Sillano-Giuncugnano, San Romano in Garfagnana and Villa Collemandina,  with Orecchiella  Natural Reserves.

In 2015, Unesco, recognizing the focal role of the Euro-Mediterranean climate border in this part of the northern Apennines, establishes the MAB Reserve (Man and the Biosphere), involving 34 municipalities on the two sides and including the Garfagnana area, in addition to municipalities of the park, including Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Pieve Fosciana and Piazza al Serchio.