Un lungo itinerario ad anello attorno alla Valle del Magra, un vero e proprio viaggio lento attraverso la natura e la storia, che ci porta a contatto con i più incantevoli paesaggi e i borghi più caratteristici della Terra e della Riviera dei Poeti.
Arcola
The name Arcola derives from the word “fortress” and it was probably given to the village since it was built on the top of a hill where it was also located the old castle of Nato, used as deposit by the Roman armies during the war against the Ligures.
The importance of Arcola grew during the years especially because of the increasing commercial trades of the near Magra River basin, which is now slitted up .
The castle that today towers above the village was built during XI century by the Obertenghis family, who were dominating the area at that time.
After the feudal period and the embanking of the Magra River in the XVII century, the lands beneath the village started to be assiduously farmed and today Agriculture is one of the main resources of Arcola, which has also become one of the “cities of wine”.
The gastronomy and wines of the village are a further proof of the tight relationship existing between Arcola and its lands.
Here, every year since a quarter of century, during the four days before the first Sunday of September, two of the most popular events of the province: “Arcola and its wines” and the “mush festival” takes place.
The Pentagonal Tower.
The Tower of the Obertenghis was built around the XI century by the same family and it is the best preserved monument of the village. Its height and perimeter, which both measure 25 meters, were left unaltered over the centuries; the only alteration was a restoration of the first years of the XX century, when the damages of the 1799 bombings by the Austo-Russian coalition were repaired. The tower in fact, located in a sensitive area of the defensive system, set itself up as a bastion threatening the invaders and defending the gates of the city.
