The Chiarone Reserve - Journey to Massaciuccoli, between history and nature - First Stop

From the reeds of the marsh to the cork oaks of the hills: discovering the Tuscan lake.

We start from the small port of Massaciuccoli, heading towards the LIPU Oasis. Here we will also find the museum on the ecology of the marsh, where we will have the opportunity to take a look at the models that depict the lagoon environments. From the Visitor Center we take the wooden walkways of the oasis, which go into the typical vegetation of the marsh between reeds and sedges. Along the way we will come across several lookout houses, built for observation and photographic posts of birds. On these banks you can in fact admire numerous species of sedentary and migratory birds that inhabit the different environments: the 'chiari', the shallow bodies of water, and the 'aggallati', parts of floating marsh that host relict plants. There are 260 ornithological species reported, including some rare birds. Every day, in addition, it is possible to request canoes at the visitor center to go along the waterways independently or in a group.
For reservations, contact the Visitor Center.

The sound of footsteps, rhythmic, makes the wooden beams of the walkway creak. All around, you can hear only the chirping of birds and the wind rustling the grass. We are in Versilia, that corner of Tuscany squeezed between the Apuan Alps and the sea, in the northern part of the region. A handful of kilometers from the busy Viareggio seafront, an ancient marshy area is home to a thriving animal and plant community: it is Lake Massaciuccoli, which with over 2,000 square kilometers of surface, forms the largest retro-dune wetland in Tuscany.

What is now a marshy lake was once a brackish lagoon that underwent a slow reclamation process. Human settlements developed around the basin as early as Roman times, still visible today in the archaeological area of Massaciuccoli Romana: here it is possible to visit the local archaeological museum and the remains of the Villa dei Venulei, built at the beginning of the 1st century AD, with its thermal complex in a position overlooking the lake and, further away, the coast.

In Massaciuccoli, near the archaeological area, flocks of birds find a home in the LIPU Oasis of Chiarone, established in 1979 together with the Park of Migliarino, San Rossore and Massaciuccoli. The marshy area is located in a geographical position that makes it an ideal transit and stopover point for a large variety of ornithological species, from the osprey to the black-winged stilt, from the elegant red herons to the rare glossy ibis.

On the other side of the lake is the village of Torre del Lago, a small hamlet famous for having been the refuge of the composer Giacomo Puccini, who moved here to a villa now dedicated to the museum that bears his name.

Around the lake there are paths and trails that lead into contact with the most evocative environments and represent a privileged point of view on those corners where the water gives way to the lands and marsh vegetation.

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