Belvedere di Montemarcello

Montemarcello sits on the Caprione promontory above the Magra valley and the Gulf of Poets. From its hillside viewpoints, the landscape opens toward the river mouth, the gulf and the Apuan Alps.

Why it matters

The Montemarcello-Magra-Vara Regional Park describes three panoramic points around Montemarcello, each connected to a writer associated with the coast: Batteria Chiodo, overlooking the Magra mouth, to Vittorio Sereni; Punta Corvo to Giovanni Giudici; and the village viewpoint, with its view of the Apuans, to Franco Fortini. Together they frame the varied geography of the Caprione and its literary associations.

What to notice

The Park describes the Caprione panorama as extending from the Gulf of Poets to the Apuan Alps. At Montemarcello, the views take in the Magra valley, the coastline and the mountain horizon. In the surrounding landscape, Aleppo pine and Mediterranean vegetation reflect the varied environments of the promontory.

Context and history

In the 1960s, writers, poets and artists gathered at Bocca di Magra, where Vittorio Sereni, Giulio Einaudi, Nicola Chiaromonte, Franco Fortini, Luigi Biso and Vittorio Korach helped found the Società degli Amici di Bocca di Magra. The association sought to protect the landscape and territory of Ameglia. The Park’s three viewpoint dedications connect that literary history to the places overlooking the river, coast and mountains.