The Nure Valley in winter offers silences that one cannot even imagine in summer. The winter season is the right season to delve into the bare woods in search of abandoned buildings, and in the Nure Valley we can find ghost towns that have their own history. From the crumbling, overgrown walls, it almost seems as if we can hear the voices of their former inhabitants.

One recommendation: don’t squeeze inside the ruined houses, because it is dangerous; you can admire them from the outside.

Let’s see together what we can find in the Nure Valley.

Chiappa Bosco.

The ghost town that was abandoned en masse by its inhabitants in the 1960s because they were denied connection to the power line, but whose memory remains in the ruins of the typical dwellings of mountain society that nature is now recapturing. A life spent in the light of oil lamps, and in the darkness stories of dreaded and sinister places were born. There was shelter from darkness and the weather in the warmth of the hearth or stable. Chiappa Bosco is part of the municipality of Farini and can be reached via trails.

Spectine Castle.

In the municipality of Bettola we can find the ruins of Spettine Castle, which continues to dominate the hills of Piacenza imposingly and mysteriously. It is an ancient fort whose date of construction is unknown. The manor is in total disrepair, partly overgrown with vegetation and has increasingly obvious and significant collapses. It stands on a hill that allowed it to guard an ancient connecting route between the Nure and Trebbia valleys. Reachable only on foot, or by off-road vehicles, it is a place full of charm and mysteries. The first to inhabit it were the nobles of the Da Spettine family from whom it took its name. Since the second half of the 17th century, Spettine Castle has been abandoned and left to decay. Wandering through its ruins, it is possible to see on the ground floor the Court Room in which many people were tried, the jails (male and female). On the edge of the cliff you can also see the church, which is the oldest in the province.

Predalbora

It is a small village six kilometers from Groppallo inhabited until a few years ago. It is located at 936 meters s/l/m enclosed in a basin among forests. Although the village is uninhabited, the tradition of the feast of the patron saint St. John the Baptist and also the festival of ancient crafts and memories on the last Sunday of July is maintained.