Via Vandelli is a historical commercial and military road, designed and built in the 18th century by

Domenico Vandelli Domenico Agostino Vandelli (Padua, 8 July 1735 – Lisbon, 27 June 1816) was an Italian naturalist, who did most of his scientific work in Portugal. He studied at the University of Padua, from which he received a doctorate in Natural Philos ...

under the reign of Francesco III d'Este between 1739 and 1752. The road connected the city of Modena with the city of Massa, in its original project of 1739. In the 1750s, a variant was added, connecting

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label= Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known f ...

, a residence of the

Duke of Ferrara and of Modena Emperor Frederick III conferred Borso d'Este, Lord of Ferrara, with the Duchy of Modena and Reggio in 1452, while Pope Paul II formally elevated him in 1471 as Duke of Ferrara, over which the family had in fact long presided. This latter territ ...

, with the existing road from Modena to Massa. After

Roman roads Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

, Via Vandelli was the first road in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

to be designed and realized according to a project fulfilling the customer requirements and modern engineering criteria. It is also the first road to be provided with

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern t ...

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

s and staging posts.

History

Few years after Francesco III d'Este started ruling the

Duchy of Modena and Reggio The Duchy of Modena and Reggio ( Emilian: ''Duchêt ed Mòdna e Rèz'', it, Ducato di Modena e Reggio, la, Ducatus Mutinae et Regii) was an Italian state created in 1452 located in Northwestern Italy, in the present day region of Emilia-Romagn ...

, he managed to agree the wedding between his son

Ercole III d'Este Ercole III d'Este (Ercole Rinaldo; 22 November 1727 – 14 October 1803) was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1780 to 1796, and later of Breisgau (not resident). He was a member of the House of Este. Biography He was born in Modena, the son of Du ...

and

Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina Maria Teresa CyboThis is also sometimes spelt ''Cibo''.-Malaspina (29 June 1725 29 December 1790) was the sovereign Duchess of Massa and Princess of Carrara from 1731 until her death in 1790. She was the eldest child of Alderano I, Duke of Mas ...

, heir of the

Duchy of Massa and Carrara The Duchy of Massa and Principality of Carrara ( it, Ducato di Massa e Principato di Carrara) was a small state that controlled the towns of Massa and Carrara from 1473 until 1829. History Although the city of Massa had already known its maxim ...

. Joining the two Duchies, Francesco III gained again the outlet to the sea. A safe outlet to the sea was a need for the commercial and military projects of the Este Duke. Together with the outlet a safe road was needed to connect the capital of the Duky, Modena, with the Tyrrhenian coast. The old Roman road, Via Bibulca, was ruined and not safe and no alternative roads were available on the Este territory. For this reason, Francesco III assigned the project of a new modern road to his engineer Domenico Vandelli, who had the task to design the path of the road and to direct and supervise the construction of the road. Via_Vandelli_Selva_Romanesca

Francesco III imposed as requirements that the road had to be ready in short time, with a low cost, requiring few maintenance works, it had to be completely paved, without high slopes and large enough to allow for the carriage to easily move on it, with railings to protect the passage in the dangerous spots. The route had not to cross the territory of foreign reigns, such as Papal State,

Republic of Lucca The Republic of Lucca ( it, Repubblica di Lucca) was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Lucca in Tuscany, which lasted from 1160 to 1805. Its territory extended beyond the city of Lucca, reaching the surr ...

, Grand Duchy of Tuscany. As a general rule, the main roads had not to go through the existing towns and cities. To study the best route possible, Domenico Vandelli had to apply new mathematical models and measures to the

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...

that led him to draw the first map containing

contour line A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, or isarithm) of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a plane section of the three-dimensional grap ...

s: the isoipsae Vandellis. A first route was proposed in 1738. This route is following the Via Bibulca route. The year after, 1739, a new route from Modena to Massa was proposed by Domenico Vandelli and the construction works begun. The construction was rapidly realized from Modena to

Garfagnana The Garfagnana () is a historical and geographical region of central Italy, today part of the province of Lucca, in Tuscany. It is the upper valley or basin of the river Serchio, and thus lies between the main ridge of the Northern Apennines t ...

. The road was provided with inns and staging posts all through its way, in order to allow for a safe and comfortable journey. The road had to overcome the Apennines, close to the ancient sanctuary of San Pellegrino in Alpe, above 1600m msl. During the years of the

Austrian succession war The War of the Austrian Succession () was a European conflict that took place between 1740 and 1748. Fought primarily in Central Europe, the Austrian Netherlands, Italy, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, related conflicts included King George's ...

, the road construction had to stop for more than 10 years and it was not possible to complete the work to reach Massa. In 1750 the construction begun again and the route was completed, overcoming also the

Apuan Alps The Apuan Alps ( it, Alpi Apuane) are a mountain range in northern Tuscany, Italy. They are included between the valleys of the Serchio and Magra rivers, and, to the northwest, the Garfagnana and Lunigiana, with a total length of approximately . ...

, at the Tambura Pass, above 1600m msl. This last part was the most difficult to be designed an realized, given the wilderness of the region and high slope of the mountain sides. To succeed in this part of the path, Domenico Vandelli had to use explosives to open passages on the mountain pass and to level some

lay-by A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway serv ...

for the carriages, to follow the mountain side slope he had to construct dry-stone walls to support the road. In 1752, Via Vandelli was officially opened in its full length from Modena to Massa. A postal service by horse was operating regularly for years, being able to complete the trip from Modena to Massa and return in one week. In the same years, a new road was designed and constructed by Domenico Vandelli to connect the Ducal Palace of Sassuolo with the newly opened road to Massa. Also this variant of the route is correctly known as Via Vandelli. The constrains that were imposed to Domenico Vandelli forced him to choose difficult terrains for his road and pushed him to invent new theoretical and technical solutions that greatly improved the road construction knowledge, but on the other side, made his road to be abandoned for commercial travels in few years. The main reasons for the abandon of Via Vandelli as a carriage road were the high slopes, the cold and snowy winters, the presence of brigands in the wild parts of the road but also the appearance of even more modern roads, that could benefit from the knowledge gained during the enlightenment years and the changed political climate that allowed for inter-reign roads, as the Via Giardini, build by one of the Vandelli's fellow Pietro Giardini. Anyhow the road continued to be used by

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

s until the

second world war World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, as a quick and easy road to move from Modena to Massa by foot.

The itinerary

The route designed and constructed in 1739 started in Modena and touches

Montale Montale is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pistoia in the Italian region Tuscany, located about northwest of Florence and about east of Pistoia. Montale borders the following municipalities: Agliana, Cantagallo, Montemurlo, Pi ...

, Torre Maina, San Dalmazio, Pavullo nel Frignano,

Lama Mocogno Lama Mocogno ( Frignanese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Modena in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southwest of Bologna and about southwest of Modena. The Monte Cimone is located nearby. Lama Mocogno borde ...

, passes through the Fignola wood and close to Sasso Tignoso, reaching the Lagadello pass above 1600m msl. After that, Via Vandelli leaves the Province of Modena and enters in

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

at San Pellegrino in Alpe, then Campori,

Castelnuovo di Garfagnana Castelnuovo di Garfagnana is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Lucca, Toscana, central Italy. It is located at the confluence of the Serchio and the Turrite Secca rivers, close to the intersection of roads passing through the Apennine Mount ...

and Poggio. Here Via Vandelli starts to climb Apuan Alps, from Vagli di Sopra and Arnetola valley, Tambura pass and down to Resceto, Canevara and finally Massa. The variant from Sassuolo, climbs the hills in province of Modena, and meets the town of Varana Sassi and Serramazzoni before joining the previous route close to Pavullo nel Frignano. The state of the road today is well preserved in large parts. The parts preserved in its original paved path are from La Santona to San Pellegrino in Alpe ( C.A.I trekking path n.579), in province of Modena, and from Vagli di Sopra to Resceto (C.A.I. trekking path n.35), in Tuscany. The rest of the path is mainly covered by heavy-traffic modern road. Some smaller portion are instead barely recognizable passing through fields and crops.

Sources

* Maurizio Pellegrini, Fabio Massimo Pozzi, La Via Vandelli Strada Ducale del '700: I percorsi del versante emiliano, Artioli Editore (1987). * Maurizio Pellegrini, Fabio Massimo Pozzi, La Via Vandelli Strada Ducale del '700: Dal Frignano alla Garfagnana e al Ducato di Massa, Artioli Editore (1989). * Giulio Ferrari, La Via Vandelli: Antica strada, nuovo cammino, Edizioni Artestampa (2018). * Giulio Ferrari, Guida alla Via Vandelli, Terre di mezzo Editore (2021).

External links

*
Via Vandelli:: Modena-Massa
{{Authority control European Cultural Routes Hiking trails in Italy