Parco Nazionale Appennino Tosco-Emiliano

The gateway opens like the entrance of a canyon, on the Secchia river bank under Poiano di Villa Minozzo, where ancient brine springs gush from the Gessi mountains: the river has vertically eroded the mountains' white and rosy walls, and deep caves run inside them.

This is the main site of the Triassic formation (older than 200 million years) that runs through the Apennine for 20 kilometres and crops out on the Tuscan side near Sassalbo.

Here, together with an information and snack point, an open-air learning and science lab can be found: a valuable geological site, rare biotopes, salt-bromine-iodine waters, karst caves. A unique habitat in Italy.