National Treasure - Umbria's Sibillini Mountains
Glorious flowers, birdsong and the majestic mountains all go to captivate Brian Jackman as he walks in a region fast becoming a favourite – Umbria’s Sibillini National Park
Words: Brian jackman - Pictures: John Heseltine
Five-thousand feet up in the Sibillini Mountains the air was like wine, and the picnic - wild boar salami, wafer-thin slices of prosciutto, tomato salad dressed with chopped basil and olive oil, pecorino cheese, crusty bread and sweet melons - was food fit for the gods. But it was the setting that made our alfresco meal so memorable: an alpine meadow so thickly strewn with orchids, saxifrage and wild peonies that there was hardly room for a blade of grass.We were walking in the Apennines, a three-hour drive north-east of Rome, in Umbria to be more precise, in the Parco Nationale dei Sibillini. Created less than 10 years ago, this is Italy’s newest national park and what a gem it is, offering some of the most glorious walks in Europe. Yet few of the country’s British visitors have heard of it.
In Roman times, these lonely mountains were the haunt of the Sibyl, the legendary enchantress who lured travellers to their doom.
In Roman times, these lonely mountains were the haunt of the Sibyl, the legendary enchantress who lured travellers to their doom. Today they have become a natural refuge for wolves, golden eagles, wildcats and porcupines. In springtime, the park is an oasis of birdsong, and wherever I walked I was serenaded by cuckoos and skylarks, and the ‘wet-my-lips’ whistle of quails in the meadows. But the park’s greatest glory is its abundance of wild flowers, and early June is probably the best time to see them.Floral kingdom I had begun my walk at the mountain hamlet of Pintura di Bolognola, following a stony track that climbed steadily up the sides of a hanging valley. At first there were beechwoods, but it was above the treeline, at about 5,000 feet, that we entered the park’s rich floral kingdom. Here, on every side, grew carpets of mauve and yellow mountain pansies, patches of midnight-blue gentians and sambucina orchids.
Adding to the enjoyment of this unspoilt region are the small, friendly, family-run hotels where you can stay each night, tucking into suppers cooked by the owner, using fresh local produce. The food everywhere is delicious and makes generous use of tartuffi - the black truffles for which this corner of Umbria is famous.
Next day we were back in the mountains, zigzagging up to a ridge called the Passo Cattivo - the Bad Pass - which sulked above us in the clouds. Now and again, a patch of blue sky would appear, only to be obscured as fresh veils of mist floated up from the valleys below. But when at last we reached the ridge, the sun broke through, lighting up stretches of ploughed-up turf where wild boar had been rooting for tubers in the night. From here the path swooped down into the Valle Stretta - the Narrow Valley - towards the bright eye of a mountain tarn that glittered 1,000 feet below.
On both sides of the path the flowers poured in rivers of gold, spiked by the deep purple of orchids, beyond counting. Had we come earlier in the year, I might have seen the masses of wild crocuses and wild tulips which had by now finished flowering. But lower down there were still drifts of narcissi nodding in the breeze, and all around and above us rose the dizzy crags and 6,500-feet summits of the Sibillini heartland.
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