The variant of the Via dei Monti which, after passing through the village of Montale, reaches the Oratory of Our Lady of Loreto—located in the hamlet of Chiosella di Sorlana—before continuing uphill to Foce di Montale and from there, turning right on the paved road toward Foce di Vignana, is indicated as VdM var. This is a medieval route that led from the Levanto valley to the Malacqua stream and from there to Carrodano and the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. The significant changes made to the pre- existing road network profoundly altered, in modern times, one of the most important routes connecting the sea to the Val di Vara.
CAI trail no. 477, which still follows the original path today, after passing the small oratory of Sorlana and reaching Foce di Montale, continued—besides the main route toward the Malacqua—along the paths leading to Foce di Bardellone and Mount Pistone, where the scattered houses of the Podi were located. The oratory, built in the second half of the 17th century on the initiative of the inhabitants of Montale, was the destination of rogations, religious processions marking the beginning of the harvest season.
