'Vincio Vecchio' rest stop

The equipped stopping point of Vincio Vecchio (Stabbia) was built on the edge of the wetland by the Research, Documentation and Promotion Center of the Fucecchio Marshes, with funding from the Tuscany Region, the Municipality of Cerreto Guidi and the '23th of August ' Stabbia ARCI Society, as part of the regional project ‘Along the Migratory Routes'.

The intervention, carried out along the state-owned strip on the edge of the road in which the old course of the Vincio stream ran, had as its goals, in addition to the preparation of some wooden benches and tables for the visitors' relaxation, the landscape improvement of the area and the recovery of some artifacts, evidence of the historical reclamation 'by filling'.

The most significant work was the planting of a tree-lined hedge for the entire stretch of the area, about 700 meters long. As shown by the historical maps of the place, hedges and rows of trees constituted a structural element of great importance in the rural landscape of the past. They responded to numerous needs related to peasant civilization: they supplied firewood and poles, branches for livestock, fruit, etc. Rows of poplars, willows and alders were then used to consolidate the embankments of the drainage canals.

Today the recovery of hedges and rows, largely removed due to the mechanization of agricultural activities, takes on an important meaning from an ecological as well as a landscape point of view. In fact, these are elements capable of significantly increasing the level of biological diversity of cultivated areas, as habitats, shelter environments and 'ecological corridors' for numerous wild animal and plant species.

The plants used (hawthorn, blackthorn, white poplar, English oak, downy oak etc.) belong to our spontaneous flora or, in some cases, are ancient introductions and linked to local tradition, such as mulberry, once linked to the production of silk.

The stopping point in fact ends with the small monumental cemetery dedicated to the memory of the fallen of the slaughter of the Padule di Fucecchio and located near the museum of peasant civilization under construction in the nearby Case Faini area.