National Park of Sibillini Mountains

Archaic goal of necromancers, kingdom of Apennine Sibyl, fairies and knights arena: these are the mountains Sibillini mountains "blue" loved by Leopardi. Renowned for spectacular blooms.

Already at the Belvedere, on a saddle just below the refuge Perugia (1,492 m), one is amazed: the place is wonder and disbelief. Pian Pian Grande and Piccolo is open to the view that, surprise, nearly silhouettes, colors and fabulous scenery.
Eastward gaze sees Pian Piccolo, consisting of 234 acres of low, wet prairie with soft colors and looks soft, countered by lively fields of lentils, enriched with cornflowers and poppies, and fields hay south and climbs the dark forest of old Knight Spot, a beech forest still intact, where live wolves. North of Little Pian after Guaidone Mount (1647 m), Pian Grande, a grassy plateau to 1,270 m proportion, crowned by a massive ridge with the peaks of Vettoretti (2052 m), Cima del Lago (2422), the Carrier (2476 m) summit of the Redeemer (2443 m). The light creates bright reflections, contrast with dark shadows on the sides of slopes, dissected by gullies. Giacomo Leopardi called them the "blue mountains", so appeared to the great poet Marches saw them from afar.

Belvedere every portion of the prairie seems to have its own shade of gold, sand, yellow straw, lime green, teal, moss green, to give life to a unique combination of unusual colors.
The majestic amphitheater Plans Castelluccio is one of the largest karst basins Note: here in ancient times
This was a large lake which then disappeared due to tectonic movements they did disappear. The vegetation along the ditch and sinkholes has a unique color is marshy, with rare species.

Only cropland reveal the presence of man
The more you try to embrace the whole landscape and the more you feel a sensation of dizziness. Is there anything of lunar and fabulous in this landscape. There are no houses or buildings or houses, but the traces of man are evident in the fields of lentils, sainfoin, hay, and the village of Castelluccio, a few old houses that barely be glimpsed on a hill in the distance, behind which we attribute to the view Pian Perduto. And graze their flocks in the sky above the tops windy, the birds are playing with the currents upward.
Plans are Castelluccio, not surprisingly, the heart of the Sibillini, the mythical mountains of the Apennine Sibyl. Some landscapes, such as deserts, forests and mountains, some by their characteristic strength is transformed into landscapes symbolic: dilate anxieties and concerns, invite exploration and then swallow the explorer make discernible human loneliness and transformation. In the midst of these mountains, from <themes and remote living mysteries Legends: Suetonius already narrated in a cave at Mount Sibilla (2173 m), where the Sibyl Picena provided, those had the courage to question, its obscure oracles, "Sibylline" precisely.

The Middle Ages outline the ancient prophet in a character, which attracts adventurers and knights errant, forcing them to overcome tremendous trials and hellish monsters. The legends make these unreal places who live beyond the space and time, filled with fantastic figures. As evidence of this, today is a unique place names: the Take the road, which crosses Mount Carrier dell'Infernaccio throat, dug from the river Tenna embraced the mountains Sybil and priorities, the pit of Hell, the source Matta, the fork of Judah, the Peak of Devil overlooking Lake Pilate, lying below the crest of Mount Vettore (1,940 m). According to popular tradition, between Lake Pilato and the three plans Castelluccio, moving the "Do cryptic" young creatures with goat legs, which, with the rising of the sun, hide in caves and gorges between the non-be expelled from the realm of magic.
Myths and legends sprout from the need to win the comparison with a disproportionately powerful nature, perceived by many as magic and others as sacred.
Here, not surprisingly, the rise of Christianity many hermits sought refuge in mountain caves and in prayer here St. Benedict of Nursia (480-547) moved the first steps of his monastic revolution.
Castoriana the valley was the cradle of monasticism from the fifth century. Today, its landscape is gentle and sweet thanks to the monks who tilled the land fallow and released ducts.

Flora and fauna
The mountain flora is represented by rare botanic species and over 1,800 different species of flowers, varies depending altitude: forests of hornbeam, manna-ash, oak, chestnut oak and up to 1,000 m, forests of beech
at higher altitudes and grasslands, on the tops of mountains.
The fauna is equally rich with over 50 different species of mammals, including wolves, and 150 species of birds, including golden eagles and peregrine falcons.
In the park there are several packs of wolves that find protection in the ancient beech forest and the Knight Spot in the thick woods of Val di Canatra, intact and isolated environments. Here also live the elusive wild cats Marsicani and brown bears in the area of Mount Carrier.

Information
Of the more than 72,500 hectares of National Park, located mainly in the Marche region, 18,000 hectares belong Umbria and contain the western slopes of the Sibillini Mountains.
The headquarters of the National Park of Sibillini and Visso (Macerata), in Piazza del Forno 1, tel. 0737 972711;

In Umbria, there are two Houses of the Park where you can get information, book excursions and buy maps, guides and National Park of Monti Sibillini
Park House of Nursia, Piazza San Benedetto, Norcia, tel. 0743 817090.
Park House of Preci, at the old Mill Village Garibaldi, Via Madonna della Peschiera, Preci, tel. 0743
937000.

Getting there
The Umbrian side can be reached from Florence and Rome.
By car: highway A1, exit Orte, Perugia, Foligno, Spoleto direction SS 75, then SS 77 Val di Chienti; from Terni, SS 209 Delia Valnerina Norcia.