Parco dei Sassi di Roccamalatina

The peculiar sandstone pinnacles of Rocca Malatina rise over the chestnut woodlands and medieval hamlets of the 2300-hectare Parco Naturale di Sassi, a favourite Sunday getaway for the Modenesi (Malatina, the name of the local barons, seems to mean malvagia tignola, the 'evil moth'). In the Middle Ages, the natural grottoes in the sandstone were used for defense (here and there traces of scaffolding survive); peregrine falcons and kestrels soar overhead. Paths criss-cross the region, including one up to the main rock above the hamlet of Borgo dei Sassi; pick up a map at the park information headquarters.

There's a park info and nature centre, the Centro Parco 'Il Fontanazzo' with a small museum of the area's natural history. Another museum dedicated to food; the Museo del Castagno e Museo-Laboratorio del Borlengo: celebrates the local cherries and chestnuts, as well as the traditional crepes and flatbreads of the region: tigelle, crescentine and borlenghi.