THE SOUTHERN PART OF LE MARCHE: TREASURES OF CULTURE AND NATURE

THE SIBILLINI MOUNTAINS
Nature, magic, legends.

The Sibillini Mountains are mainly limestone that formed on the bottom of warm seas. Most of the mountain peaks are higher than 2.000m, like the tallest of them all, the Vettore (2.478 m), the Pizzo della Regina or Monte Priora, the Monte Bove and the Monte Sibilla.  The presence of a grotto under the Monte Sibilla has given rise to pagan legends around this mountain chain.  They say that these mountains were ideal for blessing books on black magic and that the grotto, nowadays collapsed, was the infernal home of the Sibilla (from which the mountain range takes its name). According to some historians, she hid inside the grotto after the process of christianization of the Roman Empire. The first legends of this place were born between the slow death of the classical world and the beginning of the Medieval Age,. They turned it into a pilgrimage for many sorcerers but also for valorous knights who came here to challenge the witch or to ask her for predictions.


THE MOUNTAIN CHAIN OF MONTI DELLA LAGA
The power of water, waterfalls and of the infinity of the woods.

For many years the Monti della Laga have been the most secret and well hidden places of Italy.  The chain runs across the border with the regions of Abruzzo, Le Marche and Lazio, and between the provinces of L’Aquila, Teramo, Ascoli Piceno and Rieti. It is 24km long and it is divided by the Gran Sasso chain, by the striking view of the Vomano river which culminates at the top of the peak with the Passo delle Capannelle and the Lake of Campotosto. Each side of the mountains has different characteristics: it is rough on the side of Le Marche, it has cliffs and steep slopes on the side of Lazio, rolling and soft hills on the side of Abruzzo. The steepest slope begins with Monte Comunitore, it then rises higher towards the top of Macera della Morte (2.073m), Pizzo di Moscio (2.411m) and finally the most southern Monte di Mezzo (2.155m). The natural impermeability of the soils supports the superficial flow of the waters. This is why the Laga has many torrents, waterfalls and lakes. The most beautiful waterfalls to visit are that of Cavata, close by that of Lago d’Orso, Motricana (reachable in 2h from the Ceppo). Volpara in Umito, Barche, Scalette and Ortanza near Amatrice. During the winter the snow turns into ice and this offers the opportunity to practice ice climbing. During the summer months instead, the natural herbal slopes of these mountains are ideal for pasture. Many are the flocks that come back to these mountains in the warm months.

THE GRAN SASSO MOUNTAIN
The little Dolomites, the limestone slopes and the most southern glacier in Europe.

The Gran Sasso (or Gran Sasso of Italy) is the highest and rockiest Appenine peak. It is totally confined on the border of Abruzzo between the provinces of L’Aquila, Teramo and Pescara. The Corno Grande (2.912m) is the highest mountain of the Appenines. Always on the Corno Grande there is the Caldarone, the only glacier of the Appenines and the most southern of all Europe.  From a geomorphic point of view, the Gran Sasso is a rocky sedimentary mountain made of dolomite, limestone, generally compact, and rock. It formed around 6 million years ago (Miocene), during the emersion of the Appenines. Subsequently, it past through a series of pushing and compressing plates which generated a series of fractures and planes (Val Maone, Valle del Venacquaro, Campo Pericoli, Campo Imperatore). Starting from 600.000 to 10.000 year ago, during the glacial period, these plates were highly eroded. Due to its height, the Gran Sasso is visible from all the principal peaks of the Appenines, from the Monte Conero and also - during bright sunny days – from the peaks of Dalmatia.  The altitude, the rocky composition, the type of erosion at which it was exposed, make the Gran Sasso the Appenine mountain most similar to the Dolomite Alps. Below the rocky surface of the Gran Sasso, at 1.400m, are the National Research Laboratories of the Gran Sasso (LNGS), owned by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN). They are known to have the biggest underground scientific lab in the world. Amongst many things, they study here the smallest particles of the universe, like the neutrons and the monopoles of Gut.

Unforgettable mountain excursions with professional guides

ONE WEEK ITINERARY
Saturday: Arrival at the Borgo Storico and check-in in the rooms
Sunday:  Montagna dei Fiori (P.N. Gran Sasso Monti della Laga)
Monday:  Monte Sibilla (P.N.Monti Sibillini)
Tuesday:  Monte Gorzano (P.N. Gran Sasso Monti della Laga)
Wednsday: Gole dell’infernaccio: (P.N.Monti Sibillini)
Thursday:  Gran Sasso (P.N. Gran Sasso Monti della Laga)
Friday:  Peak of the Redentore (P.N.Monti Sibillini)
   FINAL DINNER WITH PROJECTION OF THE PHOTOS
Saturday:  Departure
 
LONG WEEKEND ITINERARY
Thursday:  Arrival at the Borgo Storico and check-in in the rooms
Friday:   Monte Sibilla (P.N.Monti Sibillini)
Saturday: Gran Sasso (P.N. Gran Sasso Monti della Laga)
Sunday:  Pizzo di Moscio (P.N. Gran Sasso Monti della Laga)
  FINAL DINNER WITH PROJECTION OF THE PHOTOS
Monday:  Departure

For simple excursions: up to 15 participants
For long excursions: up to 10 participants.

Per info e prenotazioni: info@seghettipanichi.it