Italy's Sibillini National Park - walking and trekking guide

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Walk 19
Castelluccio and the Piano Grande

Walking time 4hrs + 40mins for exploring the Mergani
Difficulty Grade 1
Ascent/descent 200m/200m
Distance 15.5km/9.6 miles
Start/Finish Castelluccio
Access Castelluccio can be reached by road from any of three directions – from Norcia, Visso and Castelsantangelo or via Forca di Presta. The only bus comes from Norcia on Thursdays.

Whichever way the vast altopiano is approached, the aptly named Piano Grande or Great Plain comes as quite a surprise after the rolling hills of Umbria or the Marche.

An immense flat-bottomed basin it extends approximately 18 km2 at an altitude of 1200m above sea level. It is ringed with elongated crests which rise well over the 2400m mark on the westernmost edge, encompassing the Sibillini’s highest peaks. It takes no great stretch of the imagination to picture the long-gone lake here, which drained away during the Pleistocene era, disappearing from view little by little through channels culminating in the depths of a sinkhole in the southwest corner, the Inghiottitoio (a marvellously evocative Italian word that suggests swallowing or gulping). Despite lengthy investigation, researchers have yet to discover where the water flows out, though most believe it emerges 700 metres lower down on the Piano di Santa Scolastica in the proximity of Norcia. The channnels themselves make for an educational visit. Called mergani from the Latin for ‘subside’, the 3m wide, 2m deep grassy ditches crowded with clumps of reeds also provide wildlife with a handy hiding place. Foxes lurk in there, checking the progress of oblivious crows attracted in turn by the chance of a feast on the carcasses of reckless thirsty sheep who clamber into the ditches to drink, then get stuck.

Over time, shattered rock debris and soil from the surrounding mountains have built up on the Piano Grande. Thick beech woods and even fir flourished here long ago, but these were put to the axe to make way for grazing sheep. Nowadays only patches of trees survive on the island-knolls such as Monte Guaidone on the southeastern edge. Strips of arable land are sown with tiny lentils, a variety famed all over Italy. In wintertime snow covers the fields, transforming them into a huge cross-country ski arena. In medieval times, terrible tempestuous weather led the church authorities to decree that bells be rung ceaselessly in white-out conditions to help guide travellers unfortunate enough to have been caught out in a blizzard during a crossing. They would also toll to warn villagers of impending sheep rustlers.

On the eastern edge of the Piano Grande, halfway up Cima del Redentore, is a gigantic white gash. Strada delle fate, the ‘fairies’ way’ was gouged out by one of the Sibilla’s handmaidens who got caught out by the arrival of dawn and had to get home in a hurry (see Walk 10 for more).

The Piano Grande is spectacular at any time of year, but it attracts overwhelming floods of visitors in early June for the breathtaking, colourful spectacle of the Fiorita. Almost overnight the strips of fields assume incredible colours, broad brush strokes of watercolour. The pulse and cereal crops encourage the growth of a brilliant palette of wildflowers – vivid purple–yellow–red–crimson thanks to mustard and cornflowers, poppies and vetch. Even the uncultivated areas are a blaze of colour with campanulas, yellow gentians, scented pinks, bistort and thrift. An unforgettable spectacle and a great challenge for photographers and bees alike!

In the north of the Piano Grande a prominent conical hill hosts the curious cluttered village Castelluccio di Norcia. Legend attributes its first settlement to a colony of Jews sent packing from Rome by Emperor Vespasian. However, historical records set the date in the Middle Ages with the construction of a castle in the 13th century – Castelluccio means ‘cute little castle’. With a permanent population down to 12, this wind-battered rural community has survived on its traditional activities, such as sheep herding and making pecorino (sheep) cheese, though these have now inevitably been supplemented by tourism. For centuries it was the stronghold of women and children for months on end as generations of menfolk tended the flocks and accompanied the livestock on the yearly transhumance. Nowadays, the village has a handful of good B&Bs, rustic restaurants and a sprinkling of stalls selling cheese and sausages. Wide-scale renewal was underway at the time of writing and new establishments will undoubtedly appear.

The highly recommended walk described here is a wonderful loop that wanders across the Piano Grande to the sinkhole. It is simple and relaxing. At a couple of places the way is unclear but in good weather visual landmarks are abundant, so progress is straightforward. Despite numbering on the commercial map there is no actual waymarking on the ground.3 Drinking water and sun protection are essential.

Especially memorable when the wildflowers are in bloom, it is also fascinating in autumn, when it is clothed in infinite shades of yellow and brown.

WALK

Leave Castelluccio (1452m) on the rough lane alongside Albergo Sibilla, to descend gently S to the plain, passing between fields. The lane keeps well away from the road, at the base of hills whose flanks are heavily scarred with centuries of spidery livestock tracks. A tiny chapel stands at the foot of a map of Italy made entirely out of conifers, planted by the Forestry Commission in the 1950s to celebrate an anniversary! The lane peters out as you approach a barbed wire fence – a rudimentary string gate lets walkers through to the water troughs of Fontanile (40mins, 1290m). Turn L for the road and a camper van parking area with a summer snack bar. Across the road is a horse-riding enclosure where you turn R on the tarmac. (Don’t be tempted by the lane ESE popular with the 4WDs transporting hang-gliders to the launching pads on La Rotonda.)

Only minutes further along is a rusty shed where you need the rutted lane L (SE) traversing a vast, uncultivated and prairie-like swathe of the Piano Grande. Twittering winchats, which feed on the seeds in the knee-high grass, can be deafening on this stretch, as can crickets and bees. Now you’re heading for Monte Guaidone, a helpful landmark on the landscape ahead. As the track becomes fainter, you link into a clearer one R (SW) tracing the base of the afore-mentioned mount. This leads over a slight rise before disappearing. Fear not, but continue SW following a low embankment and head for the stone hut Carbonare (1272m), a reference to the charcoal burners of the past.

Now it’s NNW as far as the power line, where a faint path takes you into a depression for the opening of the Inghiottitoio (1hr 30mins, 1257m) at the foot of an outcrop beneath Monte Castellaccio. While not that impressive to actually see, as the opening is covered with wire netting, it is of key significance for the Piano Grande.

Exploring the Mergani (40mins)

It’s definitely worthwhile turning E to venture along the Mergani ditches, though interest will depend on the time of year and water flow. Keeping a vigilant eye out for marshy patches, follow the sheep paths parallel to the channel floor. By keeping L at each ramification it is possible to emerge on the plain and cut across L (W) to the 1284m point on the road.

Up the other side of the depression you touch on a series of semi-circular dolinas, the result of karstification. A clear lane is joined and leads N amidst tiny gentians and pretty narcissus to the road at 1284m (20mins).

A track used by shepherds heads W into a side valley at the foot of Monte Castello. This leads to drinking troughs at the ruined huts Casale Guglielmi (1309m, used as the location for Zeffirelli’s film about the life of Saint Francis of Assisi). However, a tad before the structure turn R (NE) on the faint lane at the foot of a series of terraced slopes and proceed as far as the Fontanile (45mins, 1284m) encountered earlier on. Return to Castelluccio (45mins, 1452m).

Castelluccio: Taverna di Castelluccio Tel: 0743 821158 www.tavernacastelluccio.it
Locanda de’ Senari Tel: 0743 821205 www.agriturismosenari.it