Protected areas, Natura 2000 network and Forests

25. LA VERNA - RIFUGIO BIANCANEVE AL FUMAIOLO

La Verna (1128 m)
Rifugio Biancaneve al Fumaiolo (1349 m)
GRADIENT: + 950 m / -700 m
HIKING TIME: 9 hours
 Foreste Casentinesi, Monte Falterona and Campigna National Park

 

Beechwood (archivie Parco Foreste casentinesi)This is a long but quite fascinating stage, both in terms of forests and of landscape, due to the appearance of more open environments. This stage leads to the Montefeltro area which has become part of the Romagna Region after a referendum that sanctioned the passage of several municipalities from the province of Pesaro to the province of Rimini.
From the Sanctuary of La Verna, one takes the old mule track that branches off from the sharp turn in the road that ascends from Chiusi.
By following an ancient low stone wall, we begin to move away from massive beech trees covering the high ground of Monte Penna. Then from Croce della Calla, we climb towards Monte Calvano’s grasslands and then we continue on a mule track up to Pratelle Pass, through ups and downs among beech trees, on the ridge.
From here one continues by heading left on a sunny white road that passes under Monte Castelsavino and leads to Gualanciole Pass. Continuing along the ridge trail, at last one arrives at Poggio Tre Vescovi. Here one turns right and begins to descend on the ridge until Poggio Bastione, then on the Romagna side, which gradually becomes more and more open: grassland environments, and eventually dry ones as well, replace the forest.
At a small pillar one gets on the Montione road, that must be followed up to Montecoronaro Pass and then up to the village of the same name, where one finds the mule track leading to the Fumaiolo. The mule track touches the asphalt road leading to the mountain three times, then it takes off going uphill to a beautiful saddle where, among the pastures on the right, a path to Balze branches off. We instead go left, reaching the west side of the Fumaiolo. The last section of the hike climbs through conifers on the north side, to the Pass. Beyond the road, at the end of a brief detour to the left is the Biancaneve Refuge. In addition to the ubiquitous forests that are a constant in this section of the Alta Via, the interest of this stage of the route also resides in the Buca del Tesoro’s geomorphological and “anthropological” peculiarities. The Buca del Tesoro is a natural cave that one may see via a brief detour from the Poggio Tre Vescovi towards the Rotta dei Cavalli Pass.
The arenaceous rocks in this area are fractured and they house some shallow caves. These hollows may be considered modest from the speleological point of view, but they are interesting in terms of the fauna that may find refuge inside them: insects, mollusks and, among vertebrates, Chiroptera and amphibians, including􀀀he Fire salamander and the rare Italian cave salamander. However limited, the Buca del Tesoro has fascinated the imagination of mountaineers and woodsmen who, not coincidentally, have created the legend of the same name.
 

 <--Previous stage  | Next stage -->

 

 Photo gallery 

 

Stage Locations and Services 

  • Rifugio Biancaneve: Info

Interactive cartography

 Map

Map

Document Actions

last modified 2022-09-08T16:16:41+01:00
Is this page useful?

Rate this website

Looking for something else?