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Hills from the Bocco Pass

Update September 2025: Fieschi Castle is temporarily closed for renovations

Situated at 717 meters above sea level, Santa Maria del Taro is a hamlet in the municipality of Tornolo (province of Parma), nestled in the heart of the Northern Apennines, near the border between Emilia and Liguria. Since the early Middle Ages, its strategic position along the ancient ridge road connecting the sea to the Po Valley has made it a transit and trade center, as well as a military and commercial control point. The name itself recalls the religious devotion that has permeated the town for centuries: the church-sanctuary dedicated to the Nativity of Mary, rebuilt in neoclassical style between 1807 and 1834, stands on an older structure and has been the spiritual center of the upper Taro Valley for centuries. The building, with its broad façade and stone bell tower, preserves a deep devotional tradition that is still alive. A short walk from the center is the Ponte dei Priori, a medieval humpbacked stone structure that once served as the only permanent access to the valley and symbolically marked the passage between the lands of the Malaspina and Fieschi families, two powerful feudal families of the Apennines. Over the centuries, Santa Maria del Taro has maintained an identity suspended between Emilian and Ligurian culture, evident in the features of its rural architecture, local dialects, and popular customs.

Situated at 956 meters between the Vara and Aveto Valleys, the Bocco Pass is one of the historic passes of the Ligurian Apennines, used since ancient times as a connection between the Tyrrhenian coast and the Po Valley hinterland. Already in Roman times, it was part of a secondary transit network, but it was especially in the Middle Ages and modern times that the pass assumed a central role in local traffic: a route for merchants, shepherds, and pilgrims, it connected Chiavari and the Riviera with Varese Ligure and the Emilian plains. Traces of the ancient paving are still visible today in the surrounding woods. During the Second World War, the area served as a refuge for partisan groups, thanks to its secluded location and dense forest cover. Today, the pass is a destination for cyclists and hikers, immersed in an unspoiled mountain landscape of beech and fir forests and highland meadows, at the gateway to the Aveto Regional Natural Park.

Beautiful view upon returning from the ring of the slate path.

possible excursions both on foot and by bike

From the entrance to the municipality of Borzonasca, take the road that leads, through the towns of Sopralacroce, Zanoni and Belvedere, to the Ghiffi Pass and then descend to the Bocco Pass. The road, in many sections, is narrow and with a mediocre surface, but for us cyclists it always offers a good challenge: the first stretch of about 10 km is cycleable with gradients between 6% and 9%, but the last 4 km , from Belvedere to the Pass, are all to be "enjoyed", both for the panorama that opens onto the surrounding mountains and the valley below, but, above all, for the slope which, in this stretch, almost never drops below 12%. Doing it downhill is not advisable due to the bottlenecks, especially on the hairpin bends, both because of the asphalt which presents many dangers.

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