Pescasseroli Sports & Outdoors

Thank goodness for the meadow - make sure you have good hiking shoes for that stony path! Follow the track across the meadow, when the path bends to the left and look out for the red markings going up ahead tothe beech forest.

Here you may see a stone with A C3 marking and the end of D4 path - this could be taken on the return journey back to Pescasseroli.

The hike to the Sanctuary was accompanied by our faithful guide - see local customs tip! The local women brought stones up this path to build this sanctuary as thanks to the Madonna for protection during the war. During the war a gun had been placed up here for attacks and if the villages made trouble or aided the resistance then the gun would have been turned on them.

From our hotel road juction we carrried on down to the roundabout onto the main road. Then turned right, look for a sign for the sanctuary marking the start of the road. This road soon turns to a gravel path, past some stables -don't be surprised if a dog joins you for the walk here!

Well we decided to save our picnic for later so we carried on the C3 path - marked with red paint markings. The path was quite narrow and stony in places, had wet mushy leaves from the trees, whose roots had to be negotiated It ws obvious that cattle had passed this way too :-S We were glad that after about 1.2km of this the path joined a grassy meadow.

Soon you reach the Park entrance for zone C and two water troughs in a clearing are passed - take the opportunity to refill any water bottles here.
Here the path forks left onto a gravelly track - signed C3. This is the path to take, which leads past the Rifugio della Difesa (not open).

This is a beautiful spot - a perfect place for an alfresco lunch. We did not meet another soul during the hike until we reached here when we met a couple on their honeymoon - who probably didn't want to see us!

A whole gamut of hiking trails are available
The area is divided into regions - using a letter code - and then the trails in that region are given a number. So for example you could be walking route B2. Times are not marked on route but are usually displayed on a hiking informaton board at the beginning of the coded region. Pescassseroli has ABCD areas around it

This pic shows the info board at the beginning of Region C where the lovely hike to the Santuario di Monte Tranquillo starts. The next few tips in this section will describe this hike.

It had taken us nearly 3 hours to get here so we were glad to sit on the steps of the chapel here have our packed lunch and drink in the view infront of us.

Shortly a gravel road is crossed and a crucifix memorial to the alpine regiment is reached.(1hr 45 mins to this point from the beginning of the hike)