Created by order of Francesco III d’Este, the Via Vandelli was built with the precise intention of ensuring the Duchy of Modena an outlet to the sea, connecting its capital to Massa. Commissioned to court mathematician Domenico Vandelli, its realisation took many years (1738-1751), due to the ruggedness of the terrain and the adverse climatic conditions. Despite the employment of workers from Piedmont specialised in building dry walls to retain the steepest tracts of the road, the imperviousness of the stretch that crossed the Apennines and the Apuane Alps, made it difficult to use and led to its early abandonment.

Thanks to the interest of neighbouring towns, the road was restored by the Comunità Montana in recent years. An ideal destination for cycling excursions, it offers views of rare beauty and numerous tokens of the technical solutions adopted in the 18th century, such as the so-called "Vandelli Window", cut out in the rock, which served stagecoaches as a stopover point.