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The pot-holes of Anguillaja and Fatonero ditches are located near
Arni of Stazzema (Lucca)

(from Massa), leave the A12 highway at the 'Massa' exit and then follow the indications for 'Antona'. The provincial road passes 'Pian Fioba' and crosses the ridge at the tunnel of the 'Passo del Vestito' (1040 m). Arni is soon reached (916 m) and then, at 'Tre Fiumi' crossroad (833 m), you connect to the road coming from the 'Versilia'. From this point follow the directions of the Garfagnana for almost 1 km. On the left side of the road, beyond the wake of Turrite Secca, you will be able to see the Fatonero ditch, with its large 'pots' prominently. To visit Anguillaja stream, just follow the road for a further 700 m.
(from Versilia) leave the A12 highway at Versilia exit and then follow the indications for 'Castelnuovo Garfagnana'. After 'Seravezza' (55 m), the provincial road passes 'Ruosina', 'Retignano', 'Levigliani' e 'Terrinca' (600 m). You pass the tunnel Cipollaio and intersects the road coming from Massa. The route is from here onwards, the same as above

opening times

Open all year. The visit is free.

tourist information

Visitor Center of the Park
via Corrado Del Greco, 11
55047 Seravezza (Lucca)

tel. +039 0584 756144
fax +039 0584 756144

Apuan itineraries

Pot-holes of Anguillaja and Fatonero
(hiking trails)

Anguillaja and Fatonero are two streams of the Apuan Alps in which the channelled swirling waters have dug in their rock bed spectacular largecavity-shaped pot, better known as the 'pot-holes', or 'pots of the Giants'.
Both rivers are left tributaries of the Turrite Secca stream (right tributary of the Serchio river) and descend the southern slopes of Mt. Sumbra (1765 m) and Mt. Fiocca (1709 m), about 650 m away from each other.
The 'pot-holes' are presented to the viewer as regular cavities, roughly circular in shape, with very smooth walls and a cap shaped bottom mostly.
They are naturally carved into the rock and their size is extremely variable, ranging from a few centimetres in diameter up to 6.6 m, and the depth of 1.6 m.

The Access to Anguillaja ditch

After you have parked the car at the edge of the 'Arni' road (687 m above sea level), leading to Castelnuovo Garfagnana, you have to start walking along an old cart track, which goes on the left and down towards the 'Turrite Secca' river. After 250 m you reach the watercourse, that, as a rule, is completely dry, as characterized by a subalvea water movement. After walking for a while the arid bottom towards north direction, while the auction draws an embedded meander, you immediately meet on the left the confluence of the Anguillaja ditch (650 m above sea level), largely amended by the old activities and abandoned debris of a marble quarry. Mining has also deleted the first 'pot-holes' that existed in the lower part of the same ditch, artificially shaping his bottom and its side walls.
The Anguillaja is an intermittent stream in temporary arrangements on the occasion of significant rainfall, which has some remarkable 'pot-holes', described for the first time by Masini (1929).

Pot-hole in the Anguillaja ditch

At that time, the last 300 m of the ditch descending from Mt. Sumbra, showed 13 large pot shaped cavities. Their number was then reduced to the destruction produced years ago from the abandoned quarry of its lower section. The survivor 'pot-holes', now protected by the Regional Park are easily observable continuing the short route along the Anguillaja. The climb of the ditch is relatively easy in the beginning, and the first morphological step is passed through a small iron staircase. This leads to the spectacular succession of three 'poth-holes' of considerable proportions, completely carved in marble (see photo).
Further along the path is required the use of the practice of grip in climbing abseiling and rock climbing.

A view at the Fatonero ditch, Mt. Fiocca and Mt. Sumbra

From the main road to Val d'Arni, 700 m before Anguillaja stream, the Fatonero ditch can be easily identified, of which you can view the latest 400-500 m stretch, descended from Mt. Fiocca. The 'pot-holes' are numbered in descending order from the upper part of the ditch; they are around 21 and of similar size to those of the twin ditch. They too are carved in marble.

Ascending the Mt. Fiocca along the ditch Fatonero, you can meet, in succession, marbles, cherty limestones, jaspers, metalimestones with cherty bands and nodules, sericitic phyllites and the quartz-feldspatic metasandstones, with several repeats due to minors folds. It also can be indicated the presence of three tiny klippe of “cavernous” limestone. The Mt. Sumbra however, consists mainly of marble and cherty limestones. The southern slopes of these mountains are characterized mainly by glacial and karst moulding forms. The rounded furrows visible on the south face of Mt. Sumbra are linked to cryonival processes, due to perennial snowfields or short-lived lumps of ice.

Morphogenesis
The 'pot-holes' often have their origin in rotating abrasive action of pebbles. Their development requires more overlapping conditions, including the swirling river current and a consistent and homogeneous bedrock, such as the marble of Mt. Sumbra.
This model also seems to refer to the 'pot-holes' of the 'Anguillaja' and 'Fatonero' ditches, as evidenced by signs of erosion mechanics on the inside edges of the large pot cavity showed on the right.
However, some authors have suggested a genesis of these 'pots' under forced processes, through subglacial tunnels that had to be in the southern side of Sumbra and Fiocca, responding to perennial snowfields or glaciers formed during the last glaciation.
For others, the chemical dissolution (karst surface) may have initially prepared some cavities, on which the hydrodynamic action had sole or dominant reason (Federici et al., 1981).

Pot-hole in the Fatonero ditch

geosite description

geographic location:

geological map:

Note: The complete lift of the Anguillaja and Fatonero ditches requires the experience and ability of expert hikers (EE), since in the paths there are also 3rd grade passages. In any event, the visit to the 'pots' should always be addressed in fair weather; in fact, in case of rain, the river bed of the stream, polished by the water, becomes impractical.

sei il visitatore n. dal 1° luglio 2009