Trekking on numbered paths of Piacenza’s Apennines
A useful summary by Daniele Staboli
www.caipiacenza.net
 
The area of Piacenza is covered by a dense network of marked and numbered paths that you can find on some maps made by Information and Geographic Systems Service of the Emilia Romagna Region in cooperation with CAI (Italian Alpine Club) that deals with maintenance actions on local paths.
Starting from west, the first valley is the Tidone Valley, characterized by two routes that cover the Rocca d’Olgisio in the municipality of Pianello.
From here you can penetrate along 4 paths that climb the valley up to the watershed ridge with the Trebbia Valley in about 40 km (from 200 m. to 1000 m.).
In the Trebbia Valley 45 paths have been marked; they cover 400 km of mule-tracks and roads that wing among woods and grasslands, up to the highest altitudes of the Piacenza’s Apennines. Mount Lesima stands out between the Provinces of Pavia, Piacenza and Alessandria with its 1724 m.
The Aveto Valley and the Boreca Valley, some of the most interesting areas from an excursionistic point of view, branch off  from the Trebbia Valley.
In the Arda Valley the paths wind on the main ridges that from Passo del Pelizzone and from the Provincial Park flow together in Passo Linguadà, while the last intervention involved the mountains around Vezzolacca.
The Nure Valley is a sequence of paths whose frame is formed on the left side by the path 001 that climbs from Ponte dell’Olio to Passo dello Zovallo on the watershed between the Trebbia-Aveto and the Nure stream; on the right side there is the equipped area of the Rio Groppo Ducale and the Rio Restano (Bettola), in addition to the area that extends from Passo delle Pianazze to Passo dello Zovallo including the Lardana stream, lake Moo, lake Bino and Mount Ragola.
The networks of paths develops across about 70 km in the Arda Valley and 230 km in the Nure Valley. Recently it has been developed in the Genoa area too, in the neighbouring municipalities of S. Stefano d’Aveto and Ferriere.
 
Level
Nearly all the paths are classified with E (Excursionists) level, except some of them with EE (Experienced Excursionists) classification due to some easy passages, like the crest of Mount Nero, or some that need simple fixed ropes, like the Lardana waterfalls and the crests of Rocca Marsa and Pietra Parcellara.
The sole exception is the iron way Mazzocchi with EEE (Experienced Excursionists with Equipment) classification. You can reach it from camp Sacchi and, with the help of fixed ropes and ladders anchored to the wall, pass over precipices, dihedrals and channels and come out on the slopes of Mount Bue.
 
The numbering
The province has been divided in valleys and each of them has been given a number.
In the Arda Valley the paths go from 901 to 999, in the Nure Valley from 001 to 099, in the Trebbia Valley from 101 to 199, in the Luretta and the Tidone Valleys the paths start from 201.
The first number of each zone corresponds to the main path of the ridge that divides two neighbouring drainage-basins (901 Arda - Nure, 001 Nure - Trebbia, 101 Trebbia - Tidone).
This approach - that can seem very schematic - has a double benefit: it is an easy instrument to manage the paths and it represents a safety for excursionists who can easily recognize the valley in case they lose their bearings due to fog or bad wheather.
 
For further information about cartography, click on The Piacenza’s Apennines paths