19. Cittareale – Accumoli

The Principle
It is among the longest and most demanding stages! The view on the mountains of Umbria and the Gran Sasso-Laga Park is amazing!

Description of the trail
From Cittareale (1000 mt) you follow the Natural Cammino stage on the CAI path that develops as you ascend altitude on Mount Prato, cross the historical center of the village along the Rocca di Re Manfredi and then cross the Via Comunale street where on right side you can see a dirt
road that must be taken. From this point the path starts to rise up to reach a plateau (1400m) where the unattended shelter of Pian Periti is located. Here you cross some dirt roads used by farmers in the area, the path continues to climb taking an obvious driveway towards M. Prato at
1765m and then enter a magnificent gorge where on the right side you can see M. Laghetto (1836m). The landscape that you meet is a thick meadow on the hill the trail climbs in a light form to reach a small saddle (1800m) where the path begins to descend by passing through a
traverse where the landscape changes appearance in this small stretch becoming bleak. At a saddle, with an old fountain on the left, continue along a mule track that after a while slips into a grove of beech trees, first downhill and then across at the edge of a sloping pasture. You lose altitude with the lane inserted between two closely spaced slopes. Another wood and then again on the meadows of the ridge up to a fountain with water and a boundary stone. For a good stretch you walk on gentle prairies of altitude always on the wide edge of the watershed. It laps an unmanaged building, it comes down in a grassy basin, you follow the left road that goes down in a wooded valley and that becomes more evident. Then crosswise, for
another clearing with a view, and for a section of beech wood up to an important pass where a dirt road descends towards Terracino, a hamlet of Accumoli. Leaving the same almost immediately we continue in a diagonal right rather demanding for another track that with a few long zig-zag allows you to overcome a decent difference in height, always continuing on the various reliefs of the long ridge. When the ascent is reduced the
enchantment on the new pastures is remarkable with isolated trees and round peaks that make the surrounding landscape harmonious. It stalls in a fairytale landscape! The road follows the curves of the slopes rising more safely to another refuge with a fountain, with a view of the village of Terracino, and then resumes to rise. It hides in a wood for more time and then continues in an alternation of chiarie and beech-woods. It goes on like this up to the upper part of a side valley. Just before the saddle there is a sheltered parking area that can be useful.

Beyond the saddle a wide plateau hosts shallow lakes.
The horizons on the Chain of the Sibillini Mountains and Mount Vettore that open from the wide saddle from there to little repay the long hike supported up to here! From now on and up to Accumoli the uphill sections will be ridiculous. Continue on the opposite side of the valley, still
on dirt and flat terrain, then you overcome a culmination, you walk along the sides of the mountain and descend diagonally across the pastures to a refuge overlooking the lake of Monte Cornetto. From here the descent becomes more monotonous because still long and all on dirt
road driveway. You get to a managed facility where you can eat and stay overnight near Accumoli, after almost 27 km on foot!

A concentrate of Protected Areas
Accumoli is just a few steps from the border between three regions and two valleys, Velino and Tronto. And of two magnificent National Parks, that of the Sibillini Mountains and the Gran Sasso-Monti della Laga. A lot of protected natural density can not be explored and discovered by those who love the mountains and walking!

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