On the southeastern edge of the Pontremoli area, Ceretoli is a place full of discoveries. Divided into three parts – the upper, middle, and lower village – it likely developed in the early Middle Ages along important routes used as far back as the first millennium. The Francigena route, which wound through the hills on the left of the Magra River from the hamlet of Sorano, crossed through this area, then continued toward the Cirone Pass, connecting the Lunigiana region with the valleys of Parma.

In Ceretoli, the upper village is a historical centre of undeniable interest and is the oldest part of the town. In a setting dominated by stone, with vaulted pathways and a tightly knit network of geometrically arranged buildings, this part of the village dates back to the 12th-13th century and evolved – like the other two villages – up to the 18th century.

This was a distinctly rural town, with the parish church of St. Martin near the centre. Mentioned in the 13th-century Tithes, its foundation might date to the Lombard period. Renovated and expanded in the 17th century, the church was originally shorter and had a small building attached, serving as a hospital to shelter and care for pilgrims and travellers.

Not far from the church, in 2006, a cube-shaped stone, partially broken and engraved with carvings on two faces, was discovered reused in a dry stone wall. The carvings appear to depict a labyrinth of a “thread” style with three squares, centred with a cross. This representation of the “centrality of Christ in the labyrinth of the universe” is accompanied on another face by Christological symbols and other crosses. It is a work of rare fascination and great interest, possibly dating back to the 11th-13th centuries.