CAREGGINE

Nestled in the Apuane Alps, this sought after tourist venue offers a variety of leisure activities for your holiday making. As you take in the awe-inspiring panorama of forests, mountains, pastures, streams and lakes, you cannot but help think it looks like the perfectly harmonious paintings of the great masters of the past.
Thanks to its convenient location, the Careggine plateau is easily accessible from the main highway exits and train stations. You can also venture out on a hike along the nearby mountain trails which wind their way through chestnut, beech and silver birch tree forests. There are trails of various levels of difficulty, bringing you into contact with an unpolluted and natural environment. This holiday centre also offers a variety of sports facilities: tennis and volleyball courts, skating rinks, soccer fields, skiing facilities and indoor climbing. There are also many reasonably priced restaurants in the area where you can enjoy peaceful views while you are dining and discovering the local cuisine. 

A HIDDEN TREASURE

Not far from Careggine, Fabbriche di Careggine is one of the gems of the Garfagnana area.
About a kilometre from Fabbriche, a group of iron workers from Brescia opened an iron foundry in the 13th century.

 During this period of the area’s history, the village enjoyed considerable economic prosperity. Also at this time, Via Vandelli, a fine example of civil engineering, was built to connect the Padana plains to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Travellers arriving in Fabbriche took this road. It passed over a small stone bridge on the Edron River and then it changed direction. Commercial activity in Fabbriche was fatally effected when the road fell apart because of a lack of maintenance. The iron works factory closed down in the 1800s and the inhabitants of Fabbriche lived in poverty and misery for almost a century. Economic conditions improved dramatically in the early 1900s when a marble quarry opened in Vagli. So the villagers abandoned their farms and forestry activities and joined the ranks of the marble workers; they began to prosper again. In 1906-07, a small hydroelectric plant was built on the Edron River to service the needs of the marble quarry. The well-being and prosperity of the villagers was short-lived, however, as progress and industrialisation steam rolled through the entire valley. In 1941, Selt-Valdarno, a hydroelectric company, began the construction of a large dam whose project called for the flooding of the entire area and thus, the village of Fabbriche. In 1947, the villagers were forced from their homes At that time, Fabbriche had a population of 146 people who lived in 32 houses. The church of Saint Theodore, at the top of the village, was built in 1590 and is now, along with the village of Fabbriche part of the hidden gems of the area.