From Pietrapennata to Staiti

Itinerary

From the small main square of the hamlet of Pietrapennata (673 metres above sea level) follow one of the streets uphill to via Baracche, from which the Pietrapennata – Ermanata road departs and continue uphill in the the direction of the cemetery. When you arrive at the parking place before the cemetery, take the dirt track on the right, and, after a short stretch, you will see the ruins of the Monastery della Madonna dell’Alica [The Monastery of Our Lady of Alica] to your right. You can reach these ruins by leaving this track near a small widening to take the right-hand pathway, among the ferns. After the Monastery (682 metres above sea level) continue straight on, with the monastery on your left, until you reach a small barren hill, visible from the Monastery. Continue uphill for a while through dense Mediterranean scrubs and then take the path to the right, which gives the impression of skirting the mountain, until it joins a dirt track. Having passed through a pine wood you come across a track that from Staiti leads to Campi di Bova. When you arrive here, we advise you to make a short detour, that is, do not head right and downhill towards Staiti but continue left to the top of Monte Cerasia (1013 metres above sea level). On the way up you will meet, the Falcò Forestry Station and then, on the left, a spring of ferrous drinking water in the Acqua Rugiada Locality. Continue for another short stretch along the same route, to turn off at the next left onto a track amid pines and holms. This track soon takes you to Piano Maroprete where you take the right-hand fork which brings you up an increasingly steep slope to a lookout point from where you can see, facing you, Monte Cerasia. Follow the track, which has now levelled out, and, after about a hundred metres, turn left – amid holms, heather, brambles and gorse– towards the summit of Monte Cerasia. Upon leaving the trail continue in the direction of the saddle below Monte Cerasìa from where, after a short climb, you will reach the top. From the summit of Monte Cerasia you can view an extraordinary landscape sweeping from the Aspromonte massif to the Ionian Sea, from the Woods of Montalto to Campi di Bova, with the Fortresses of Bova and of Pentedattilo as well as Mount Etna as a backdrop. After a rest on Monte Cerasia, return to the main dirt track. Follow it downhill, taking the available shortcuts that allow you to cut across many of the bends you meet and, in roughly 2 hours, you will reach the characteristic hamlet of Staiti.

Departure: Pietrapennata (673 metres above sea level)

Towns and villages en route: Palizzi, Staiti

Elevation difference: about 350 metres uphill; 470 metres, approximately, downhill

Walking time: about 6 hours

Distance covered: ….. kilometres roughly

Availability of drinking water: spring on the left near the entrance to Pietrapennata; at the halfway mark along the itinerary, at a spring in the Acqua Rugiada Locality

Difficulty: E

Arrival: Hamlet of Staiti (540 metres above sea level)

Visits to the following towns /villages

Visit to the hamlet of Pietrapennata

Visit to the hamlet of Staiti

Information regarding the itinerary

Itinerary care of Cooperativa Naturaliter

For further information please contact Andrea Laurenzano (tel. 347 3046799)