The Abetone

Abetone is a very well known tourist destination which is very popular with both Italian and foreign travellers in the summer season who are attracted by its cool forests and its excursions on foot or by mountain bike. But Abetone’s fame comes from the fact that it is Tuscany’s white mountain and in there are a great many ski lifts for winter sport enthusiasts some of which are latest generation with slopes of all lengths and difficulty levels (see dedicated article), for everyone from beginners to the most expert in total safe. There are, in fact, 14 easy, 14 medium and 1 difficult slope all of which are in perfect condition thanks to planned snow cover obtained with 46 snow generators and 9 snow groomers; totally we have 50 km of slopes Downhill ski and 18 km of slopes Nordic ski.

The ski area is split up into a number of locations (Le Regine, Selletta, Abetone, Monte Gomito, Pulicchio and Val di Luce) and we have set out the slopes and their difficulty levels in the table aside. Anyone wanting to ski at Abetone, including beginners, can take lessons at the various ski and snowboard schools or rent equipment. There are ski instructors in these schools with specific training for the differently abled as well.

There are also the Doganaccia slopes that you can get to from Cutigliano. Trekking lovers can walk to Lago Scaffaiolo which is at the foot of Monte Cupolino. Another interesting footpath takes you to Lago Nero on CAI footpath no. 104 White/Red starting from the Abetone Forest Botanic Garden in the Sestaione valley. There is a CAI Alpine refuge near the lake with a shelter which is always open. This is the Pistoia mountain area in the direction of Modena.

Insight: the name Abetone originated with an enormous fir tree – abete in Italian – which had to be cut down when the road to the pass was built. For a while the road took the name Via Ximenes (on the Pistoia side) and Via Giardini (on the Modena side) from the names of the two technicians who worked on the building of the road from 1766 to 1778.