Avventura Italiana 2022

 Avventura Italiana 2022

My daughter and son in law + Milli moved to Italy in January 2021 at the height of the CV19 pandemic to enable his posting at a prestigious Italian university. They ended up living in Corridonia, Marche for nearly three years which provided me with a catalyst to visit in 2022 and 2023. Corridonia was well situated in proximity to many hiking opportunities.

Day 1 - 24/8/22

Arrive at Fiumicino, Roma and travelled to Corridonia.

From their balcony 

Day 2 - 25/8/22

Enjoyed a picnic lunch alongside the local river Fiume Chienti and had a dip to cool off.

Milli waiting for scraps

Day 3 - 26/8/22

Wandered about the old walled township of Corridonia.

Monte Vettore and Monte Priora in the distance 

The old gate

Surrounding farm land

Nearby Macerata

Lots of narrow steep paths

Day 4 - 27/8/22

First trip into Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini with a hike from Forca di Presta up to the summit of the highest peak Monte Vettore. A wonderful quirk of European hiking is a bar near the top or bottom of the more popular trails. 

My first crack above 2000m altitude certainly tested the body a bit. The views were stupendous although the weather was closing in so we made a beeline back to the carpark. There was a shepherd and their flock crossing path on the way down.

Hiked 10.5km including 895m ascent. Max altitude 2476masl

Castelluccio perched above the mist

Summit of Monte Vettore

Sheep herd

Weather closing in

Day 5 - 28/8/22

Enjoyed an extended Sunday welcome lunch provided by the local Italian family who took the kids under their wings. Grazie mille Vittoria, Diego, Matteo, and Lucia

Day 6 - 29/8/22

Woke up to a clear view of Gran Sasso d’Italia in the distance with Corno Grande rising high above the surrounding terrain. It’s the highest point in the Apennine mountains. Marked it for future reference. Picked up my hire car from nearby Macerata so that I could be independent of Emma and Jamie as they were still working during the week.

Day 7 - 30/8/22

Drove down the coast to a resort at Casalbordino to meet up with a family I knew from my former European motorcycling exploits. Ciao Barbara, Maurizio, & Elena.

Not much sand

Day 8 - 31/8/22

Family stuff and shopping.

Day 9 - 1/9/22

Got my first taste of solo hiking in Italy in PN dei M. Sibillini. Gola dell’Infernaccio was the target. Ended up quite wet which curtailed my activity but well worth the effort.

Hiked 9km including 426m ascent. Max altitude 1100masl

A chapel on high

Water falls across the trail

Day 10 - 2/9/22

Travelled to Cattolica in preparation for attending the San Marino MotoGP at Misano with my daughter.

Most of the beach is private settings

Day 11 & 12 - 3/9/22 & 4/9/22

MotoGP both days. Good walk to the track and back. 4km each way.

San Marino

Day 13 - 5/9/22

Emma and I drove north to the foot of the Dolomites at Casso. Quite a tragic history here where the filling of a hydro-electric storage dam triggered a catastrophic landslide which led to a wall of water and mud cascading into the valley below the dam wall (which remained intact. 1910 souls were lost as a result.

Day 14 - 6/8/22

We literally walked out the door and up the trail leading to the ridge under which Casso is nestled. Steep country with a precipitous trail to Forcella Salta. Came across a family of mountain goats as well. Amazing scenery.

Hiked 7.7km including 1020m ascent. Max altitude 2010masl

The landslide which triggered the Vajont tragedy

Day 15 - 7/8/22

Drove down to Venezia so that Emma could attend a business meeting nearby tomorrow. Had a quick look around and had dinner at an Indian restaurant for something different.

Day 18 - 8/9/22

Emma went to work while I spent the morning wandering around the extremely busy city. We met up again for lunch before driving back to Corridonia (420km). Travelling at 130kmh on the autostrade gets you places quickly, as long as there are no traffic incidents.

Day 19 - 9/9/22

Another local hiking destination set for today. Lago di Fiastra, Lame Rosse and Grotto dei Frati. It was very windy above the lake but nice and sheltered in the forest.

Hiked 12.3km including 844m ascent. Max altitude 860masl

We had the pleasure of attending a celebration of Corridonia at a medieval festival tonight.

Day 20 - 10/9/22

A special day today whereby my ‘adult kids’ treated me to a Pink Floyd tribute band performance at the historic Sferisterio open air opera house in Macerata. Fantastic evening indeed.

Day 21 - 11/9/22

Hockey day today for Emma

Day 22 - 12/9/22

Big hike target was Monte Priora from Ambro valley. I didn’t make it to the summit (800m short) unfortunately however the views were pretty impressive. The fact is that the ascent was too much combined with a lack of altitude training.

Hiked 15.8km including 1454m ascent. Max altitude 2150masl

The chapel I visited on day 9

Along the ridge

As far as I could get

Corno Grande

Monte Sibilla

Day 23 - 13/9/22

Rest day with a short stroll around gardens near Corridonia with Vittoria.

Day 24 - 14/9/22

Loaded up my hire car/van and we all headed north into the Dolomites to stay in a short term rental at Ortisei for a few days. Dropped by a special winery region along the way. The weather in the mountains was a bit foreboding but appropriate.

Ortisei

From our digs

From the bbq seating area

Day 25 - 15/9/22

Rode the ski lift up to Seceda ski field at 2450masl for a wander around then make our way back to our lodging via a hike trail.

Hiked 8.6km including 206m ascent. Max altitude 2500masl

Looking down the valley to Ortisei

Up we go

Up top

Canberra 15120 km

Ski lodges

Going down

The imposing Sassolungo

Steep drop

Day 26 - 16/9/22

Kitted up and drove up to Passo Pordoi to ascend Piz Boè. The first part is via cablecar thence by foot. Quite a moonscape at the top of the plateau. There was a short section of via ferrata on the way up to the summit. Quite the view from up there.

Up there!

Cable car station up top, Rifugio below

We then descended to the carpark via the zig zag trail after stopping for una birra at the Rifugio Forcella Pordoi.

Hiked 8.1km including 354m ascent. Max altitude 3152masl

Milli handling

Along the via ferrata

Quiet contemplation 

Cheers

Heading down the zig zag trail

Day 27 - 17/9/22

Wandered down the hill to town last night. Very Disneyland.

Up early to drive Jamie down to the train station in nearby Bolzano. An experience in itself on wet narrow mountain roads in the dark on the ‘other side of the road’. I was doing some planning to take in Corno Grande before I departed Italy when I received a phone call from Emma who was outside…it was snowing!

A quick change into the hike gear and off we went along the trail we had descended two days ago. We reached the first ridge with snow falling around us. Wonderful. A welcome bonus indeed. Wandered around for a while then retreated to the local bar for a mandatory Aperol spritz.

Hiked 6.9km including 735m ascent. Max altitude 2150masl

Day 28 - 18/9/22

Headed toward Bologna for Emma to play hockey then back to Corridonia. I spent the remainder of the evening researching where to stay to access Corno Grande.

Day 29 - 19/9/22

Drove to Fonte Cerreto to stay in a small hotel at the foot of the cable car to Gran Sasso d’Italia. Spent the evening wandering around then making preparations for my ascent of Corno Grande.

Day 30 - 20/9/22

Oh what a day! Up to Campo Imperatore via the funivia then headed UP. I had my scrambling gear as well as my helmet and via ferrata harness just in case. I had learned three years ago in Austria that the terrain gets steep and challenging without warning and being able to clip on to cables is somewhat comforting (I wasn’t as prepared then!).

Ended up climbing into the clouds relying on my AllTrails app to keep me on course. Such an engaging and satisfying ascent. Came across a herd of chamois on the way back down.

Hiked 11.6km including 932m ascent. Max altitude 2912masl

The observatory 

Up there!

The trail heads upward to the left

Then turns right and you’re rock scrambling up toward the summit

In the clouds

Hardly any glacier remains in the valley below

At the summit!

Wow

Chamois

Looking back to the summit

A rifugio

The trail hugs the base of the cliff

Celebratory birra at Campo Imperatore 

Day 31 - 21/9/22

The day started out reasonably fine so I went up again only this time intending to ascend the more direct trail (Direttissima). I had met a fellow solo climber who had knowledge of this route so we joined together for the climb. This was more of a scrambling rock climb than a walk to reach the summit. I was certainly a little apprehensive.

After reaching the first saddle above Campo Imperatore, the heavens opened up showering us with small hail and sleet. The temperature had dropped considerably so we agreed that this was not our day and we abandoned our mission. The rock climb was not a place for cold and wet conditions.

Hiked 4.8km including 327m ascent. Max altitude 2400m

Hail spattering the ground

Drove back to Corridonia this evening in preparation to head back to Australia.

Day 32 - 22/9/22

Returned the hire vehicle back to Macerata and took a trip to Camerino where Jamie works at the University. It was still undergoing rebuilding following a severe earthquake in the area. We also visited another of their favourite wineries nearby.

Bracing on many walls

Day 33 - 23/9/22

Emma drove me to Fiumicino airport and bade me arrivederci e buon viaggio. A fantastic trip was had, now for the long haul home with plenty of time to reflect on how fortunate I am.

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Hiked a total of 95.3km including 7193m ascent with maximum altitude of 3152masl