Geological trails - TRAIL No. 2

If we take the trail to the left of the junction at the forest's edge, then turn right and pass through a sort of natural corridor to reach a circular quarry cut into the massive limestone. This is Cava Rossa, or the red quarry, whose name comes from the ferric-oxide incrustations covering the quarry walls. In the stretch approaching the quarry, a surface section of the Great Fault can be seen, represented by approximately 20 centimeters of thin layers of calcite alabaster. On the left wall of the quarry, a tunnel dug into the rock is still open.

The trail then descends towards the paved access road to the Cava Grande, or large quarry, on the western slope of the hill. An especially interesting trail in geological terms runs along the La Spezia (Rhaetian) Formation of the Great Western Fault, which surfaces for some meters in the large quarry area, from where the basal part of the massive limestone can be seen. The stratigraphic sections of the various formations are visible in detail for the almost entire vertical progression of the quarry cut. Continuing along the trail, we return to Lucchese State Road 435.