Zignago retained its charm of the “mountain territory still preserved within the traditional agro-forestry-pastoral economy” (Tiziano Mannoni). Just before the village of Pieve, coming from Serò, we encounter one of the many testimonies of the partisan struggle in Zignago with the monument dedicated to Astorre Tanca and his comrades who fell here.
On the nearby hill you can see the remains of the medieval village known as Zignaculi, destroyed due to a fire in the 14th century. The population moved further downstream, building the village of Pieve, that developed around the complex of the ancient parish church of S. Pietro di Cornia, that belonged to the diocese of Luni, of which the bell tower remains next to it. The Via dei Monti, climbing the ridge in the direction of Lunigiana, meets the Dragnone, the famous sacred mountain of the Val di Vara, an ancient Ligurian place of worship.
Here stands the sanctuary dedicated to the Madonna del Dragnone: on 8 September the great festival still attracts the communities of the Alta Val di Vara and nearby Zerasco in a sort of ancestral union.
On the nearby Mount Castellaro, human presence is documented in the Bronze Age: remains of huts have been discovered together with traces of terracotta floors. In the Byzantine age there was a watchtower, a sign of the strategic importance of the site on which ancient routes converged.
The Alta Via dei Monti Liguri, once called Regia, represents the natural watershed between Val di Vara and Lunigiana: here the Via dei Monti enters the Rossano valley in the Municipality of Zeri.
