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The Garfagnana is a wild and rugged area of northern Tuscany, set between the Apuan Alps and the Apennines, formed from the high valley of the river Serchio. The landscape of the Garfagnana is the result of the struggle, but also of coexistence, between man and nature, in part shaped by human labor, which has allowed the development of a poor agriculture in areas torn by hard woods and cliffs, dry stone walls and terraces allow people to be able to have scraps of land to cultivate and with which to lead a meager existence. Because of its poverty Garfagnana has undergone in the twentieth century an important flow of migrants into neighboring areas more suitable for growing as the plain of Lucca, or a migration to distant countries like America, Australia etc.. 

The landscape still retains its own characteristics and presents a multitude of small towns, some also abandoned, with remains of fortresses and castles, with nature that, slowly, takes ownership of abandoned agricultural terraces let go by the depopulation of the area. Today, some areas of the Garfagnana are part of the National Park of Appennino Tosco-Emiliano or the Apuan Alps Regional Park. The area with its natural beauties such as those of the Apuan Alps, Orecchiella Park, Grotta del vento (Wind Cave) etc.. has become a paradise for hikers and lovers of walks and trekking.