from Sasso Marconi to Grizzana Morandi

km: 27
Difference in altitude +/-: +1400 m/ - 950 m
Time: 8/9 h

From the town hall square, turn into via del mercato and then arrive on viale Kennedy. Once you reach the roundabout of the monument to Marconi, cross the bridge over the Reno and go towards Vado until you reach the bridge over the Setta. Once you have crossed the bridge over the Setta, turn left into via Sirano and once you have reached Casa Bergamini, take a dirt road until you reach the cemetery of San Silvestro where you join the path – CAI 100 trail. From the church and cemetery of San Silvestro (where the variant from Sirano arrives - now impassable due to a landslide), an open and panoramic ridge opens up with a view of the hills and the prestigious vineyards of the Bologna hills. At an altitude of 500, CAI 128 junction, you go around the La Volta farmhouse and, still on the CAI 100, you reach Monte Santa Barbara (591m). at the top and foot of this mountain, during the Second World War, the Germans built positions, shelters and machine gun nests to control the Val di Setta. In the locality of Nuvoleto you arrive in 30 minutes at a crossroads between trail sign 100 towards the top of Monte Sole (668m) and trail sign 100A, towards the star of Monte Caprara (632m) where it rejoins the 100 that descends from Monte Sole and the monument dedicated to the Wolf and the partisans of the Red Star. After passing the ruins of Capraia di sopra you reach a dirt road and then a paved road that leads to an important crossroads, a junction between the memorial monuments and the Poggiolo Visitor Center.

Monte Sole is one of the most symbolic places on the walk. Take a moment to learn about its history.
The Historic Regional Park of Monte Sole, with its approximately 6,300 hectares, welcomes you with a silence full of meaning, memory, pain and rebirth. Here, between the end of September and the beginning of October 1944, a bloody massacre was carried out by Nazi forces, a terrible page in the history of our country, which led to the death of hundreds of defenseless civilians, elderly people, women and children. In the park, guided by plaques and signs, we can walk among ruins that bear the signs of the massacre, visit places of pain and also of memory and warning for the future.
Today the park and the protected area are a symbol of a culture of peace aimed especially at the younger generations. The "Memorial" route touches the symbolic places of the massacre and the peak of Monte Sole with the stele in memory of the partisans who sacrificed themselves in these valleys during the war of Liberation.

The Monte Sole Park also preserves a great heritage of biodiversity: 936 flora species detected (about a third of the floristic diversity of Emilia Romagna) and a rich and diverse wild fauna that bears witness to a strong and intact environment.
We take the path towards San Martino – Monte Sole peace school – San Martino cemetery and monument to Don Giovanni Fornasini, the place where citizens and institutions commemorate the Liberation every year. After passing the crossroads for Concola and the monument to Don Ferdinando Grande (Monte Termine), the vegetation changes and we see the Scots pine, a native and protected nucleus.
We follow the signs for Veggio and after about 100 meters we enter the woods to climb up Monte Salvaro (826m). On the sides of the path there are a large number of trenches, foxholes, shelters, witnesses of the war and the clashes between the Germans and the Allies.
On the plateau we find an iron cross and a shelter useful in case of rain. We descend along the ridge line to a thick forest of junipers and other specimens of the naturalistic scrub of the park and so to the gates of Grizzana Morandi. We continue towards Monte Pezza (752m) along a rocky path and we cross the localities of Cà la Fame and Cà la Sete on path 174. We continue on path 100, passing 2 intersections, towards the locality Castello. When you see the CAI signpost “Casa di G. Morandi” and “Campiaro” you will know that you are at the height of the Fienili di Campiaro.
Interesting facts:
The Campiaro Barns are also known as the "Morandi Barns". This is because they are located right in front of the house where Giorgio Morandi, from a young age, spent his summers. In love with this view, the three buildings and the surrounding landscape are often portrayed in his works.