Spring is the perfect season to enjoy a nice walk and there is no better place than Val d’Arda to admire the awakening nature.

In the Santa Franca wood , on the hills around Castell’Arquato, you can find a rare example of lowland forest and reach the chapel of Santa Franca, completely hidden in the greenery, until you climb up to the top of the Monterosso hill, which gives its name to most famous wine of the area. During this walk you can also see the first flowering of the undergrowth which you can also find in Bosco Verani , the garden of the Villa Sforzesca in the Sant’Antonio area a few kilometers from the village of Castell’Arquato. A forest complex of about 20 hectares formerly used as a hunting reserve which, thanks also to its elevated position, allows a beautiful view of the plain to the north and of the Apennines to the south. Its undergrowth is tinged with wonderful colors thanks also to the crocuses that give us the spectacle of their flowering as early as February.

In Val d’Arda you can also find the provincial park of Monte Moria which is a natural oasis of over 1000 hectares of woods. In the park there are various itineraries to be discovered on foot, on horseback or by MTB, but you can also go up there just to enjoy a spring day, enjoying a delicious picnic.

Another important spring destination is the Piacenziano Reserve (now unified with the Stirone Park), where you can find a great variety of habitats that translate into a great richness from a landscape and naturalistic point of view. Here spring brings new life to the stretches of water, where the migratory birds that have come to the lakes to reproduce run incessantly to feed the chicks that have already emerged from the nest.