Stage 14

San Dalmazio (Mill) – Pavullo

Today’s is a fine introduction to the Modenese Apennines, the most challenging in the region in terms of elevation gain, but also the most exciting. After 3 km we climbed from the valley floor to the thousand-year-old parish church of Coscogno, a Byzantine memory. Time for a short visit (possibly corroborated by a snack at the bar in the nearby village), and you descend again via the ancient carriageway leading to another tributary of the Panaro River (the ancient Scoltenna). Here the next climb is really long and tiring, before arriving at the pretty village of Benedello, the scene of a fierce battle during World War II. Now we stay at altitude, crossing scenic territories where Romans and Byzantines built military garrisons that resisted the Lombards to the last. Finally we will arrive at devotional places, first pagan and then Christian, from which originated the most important parish church and civil settlements, the oldest in Pavullo.