The Filattiera Tourist Information Point, located next to the romanic pieve of Sorano, is open from April to September every day from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm.
The information point carries out reception and information activities regarding the area’s attractions and tourist services; it provides free information material and maps of the Lunigiana and surrounding area and the Parco Nazionale Appennino Tosco Emiliano; and you can also find Via Francigena and Lunigiana gadgets and souvenirs, Via Francigena maps and guides, and National Park maps for sale.
E-bike Rental Service
The Center is also a e-bike rental point of the Parcobike slow tourism project t, promoted by the Parco Nazionale Appennino Tosco Emiliano.
Info: 0187457523 – 331 8866241
info@sigeric.it
Archaeological didactics and educational excavation
A full-scale educational excavation and dedicated spaces for lectures and workshops are at the heart of the Filattiera Educational Production Center.
The Sorano area plays a crucial role from an archaeological point of view and has been the subject of numerous archaeological excavation campaigns in recent decades. The research has brought to light very important discoveries useful in reconstructing the prehistory and history of the Val di Magra, from the Copper Age to the present day.
The Sorano Education Center has therefore been chosen as a point of reference for archaeological education: here children and young people, accompanied and guided by qualified staff, approach the world of archaeology, gain awareness of the historical importance of the area and experience in first person the job of an archaeologist.
Educational excavation:
Adjacent to the Center there is a real, child-friendly educational archaeological excavation: here they dig with proper tools, clean, photograph and catalog the archaeological finds in an Excavation Notebook.
Stone Ancestors:
For more information on excavation proposals and activities for schools, dedicated to prehistory in Lunigiana, archaeology, and Statue Stele, click here.
Info: 3318866241 – 3663712808
info@sigeric.it
Learn more: The archaeological area of Sorano
The numerous findings made in the archaeological area of Sorano make it possible to reconstruct the evolution of human presence in Filattiera from prehistory to the Middle Ages.
The research conducted in Filattiera since the 1980s, under the guidance of Prof. Tiziano Mannoni, has made it possible to identify numerous archaeological discoveries that significantly reconstruct the development of human settlement in the Sorano area. In addition to the excavations inside the Pieve, which identified the first foundation of the church and some gravesites, as many as seven prehistoric stele statues (VI-I millennium B.C.), some Iron Age box tombs, the remains of a Roman mansio used as an agricultural structure and road station (I-V century A.D.), and some traces of early medieval residential settlements have been found in the area. More info.
Tourist info point
The Filattiera Tourist Information Point, located next to the Pieve di Sorano, is open every day from April to September from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm.
The info point carries out reception and information activities regarding the area’s attractions and tourist services; it provides free information material and maps of the Lunigiana and surrounding area and the Parco Nazionale Appennino Tosco-Emiliano ; in addition, you can find Via Francigena and Lunigiana gadgets and souvenirs, Via Francigena maps and guides, and National Park maps for sale.
Sustainable Tourism Communities
Since 2019, our cooperative has joined the large family of community cooperatives in the Tuscany Region with a number of projects related to the world of responsible and sustainable tourism.
The tourism sector represents one of the main economic and development engines of the whole Lunigiana community territory and, in general, of the inland and peripheral regional areas.
The initiatives carried out by the cooperative’s qualified staff have been aimed at enhancing and promoting bicycle tourism, a slow and sustainable way to discover the historical and natural beauty of Lunigiana. The main objective is to increase employment opportunities in the community’s territory by promoting the active stay of its citizens, a fundamental condition for imagining a social and economic development of the area.
The Center for Educational Production and Documentation – Filattiera
In the various projects developed by our cooperative, the Didactic Production and Documentation Center “Pieve di Sorano” represents the nerve center. Today the center is a multipurpose area, located behind the magnificent Pieve di Santo Stefano di Sorano, where there are tourist reception services, a coworking space, environmental and archaeological didactic workshops and a bike center. The center is also the starting point for numerous bike routes, all marked and mapped, which make up the Lunigiana Bike Area, a rich hiking area for lovers of cycling and outdoor activities.
Here is the list of projects organized and developed by the Cooperative:
- Lunigiana – Sustainable Tourism Community
- Turis.Coop – Tuscany’s community cooperatives introduce themselves (turiscoop website) – CUP 13964.02092020 – Project co-funded under POR FESR Toscana 2014-2020 – Action 3.1.1 sub a4 Bando sostegno alle cooperative di comunità di cui all’art. 11 bis Lr 73/2005
- Lunitur – POR CreO FESR Toscana 2014-2020 ACTION 3.1.1 sub a4) Call 2022 support for community cooperatives referred to in art. 11 bis Lr 73/2005 . “LUNITUR” project – CUP ST: 4080.01032022.211000009
- Lunigiana project, sustainable tourism community funded by executive decree no. 21401. Notice for grants to established community cooperatives – CUP D54G20000010009
Contact
Address: Pieve di Sorano Documentation and Educational Production Center, via Ponte Provinciale 64 – 54023 – Filattiera – Massa Carrara
E-mail address: info@sigeric.it – cooperativasigeric@cgn.legalmail.it
Phone numbers: 3663712808 – 3318866241
Web site: https://www.sigeric.it
Social pages: Facebook Sigeric – Services for Tourism – Instagram @sigeric
Sorano Learning Center – Filattiera (https://www.facebook.com/centrodidatticosoranofilattiera)
Francigena Point Filattiera
The Francigena Point Filattiera is a welcome and information point for all pilgrims traveling along the Via Francigena.
Positioned next to the beautiful Pieve Romanica di Sorano, one of the symbolic places of the Via Francigena in Lunigiana, the Sorano Learning Center is also a tourist information point and a Francigena Point, open continuously from April to September every day from 9:00 am to 12:30 pm.
The Francigena Point Filattiera offers a range of free or paid services:
Free services for pilgrims:
- Reception and information about services in the area
- Information materials and maps Lunigiana
- Refreshment point with water, tea and coffee
- Stamp for credentials
- Wi-fi Via Francigena
Paid services:
- Pilgrim’s credential, resale authorized by Associazione Europea Vie Francigene
- Via Francigena map and guidebook
- Via Francigena souvenirs and gadgets
Info: 0187457523 – 3315740114 – 331 8866241
info@sigeric.it
ANPIL Filattiera – Magra River Protected Area
At the Didactic Center in Sorano it is also possible to conduct environmental education workshops: the proximity to the Protected Natural Area of Local Interest (ANPIL) of the Magra River allows children and young people, accompanied by our Environmental Guides, to discover the area from a landscape and naturalistic point of view.
The Magra River has always been the backbone of Lunigiana, and along its course it is still possible to observe natural and human landscapes of great significance.
For all schools it is possible to discover with a guided tour and workshop the Anpil, with our educational proposals:
- “A Book of Trees”
- “Treasure Hunt with GPS.”
Or you can participate in one of our family proposals “Walk, Discover, Learn” with guided hike in the Anpil and afternoon workshop.
Info: 0187457523 – 3315740114 – 331 8866241
info@sigeric.it
Learn more
The 62-kilometer-long Magra River has its source in the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano, in the stretch of ridge between the Cisa Pass and Monte Orsaro. It has its upper and middle course in Tuscany, where it collects stream waters from the steep Apennine slope and from the gentler slope bordering Liguria, in which the Macigno sandstone gives way to clay and marl soils, easily shaped by erosion.
The ANPIL Fiume Magra 2 encloses the large alluvial plain to the left of the watercourse and the confluences with the Caprio and Oriuolo streams.
Along the Magra Valley it is still possible to make unexpected wildlife observations, especially during migration periods. Like the pilgrims and traders who passed through the Francigena in the Middle Ages, birds in fact choose to cross the Apennines from the easier passes, then following the Val di Magra to reach the coasts.
Stopping along the riverbed, ducks, several species of herons, including purple heron and bittern, dipper, and grey heron have been observed.
In spring, the riverbed is beaten by the little ringed plover and the little pyrrhon. Kingfisher, sandwich warbler, and river nightingale also nest here.
Finally, the mild climate of the Magra River valley is favorable to an amphibian typical of coastal areas, the emerald toad, which lays its eggs in the slower flowing stretches and side branches of the waterway.
