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| Lunch on Mt. Mattone Summit |
Though often overshadowed by the Dolomites, the south-central Italian region of Abruzzo affords splendid opportunities for hiking. K and I had been there before, in 2008, and marveled at the Apennine Mountains - the veritable "spine" of Italy that runs the length of the peninsula and encompasses a series of national and regional parks in Abruzzo. Sans gear, we settled for short walks to trail heads reachable by foot from Sulmona, our base of operations.
For this return trip four years later, we made sure to bring along the requisites needed to fully enjoy this rugged mountain land - boots, packs, poles, topo maps, and, most expensively, a rental car to fully access all of the trail heads.
One of our first peaks: Monte Mattone.
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| Departing Pettorano Sul Gizio |
This hike starts off on a slight grade along an access road from the pretty town of Pettorano Sul Gizio - Gizio being the name of the river that runs below the town and, via an ancient irrigation system, sustains the agricultural pursuits of the entire valley. A pleasant uphill grade through olive groves and alternating along 4x4 tracks and wooded trails eventually emerges on a mountain meadow and the "Il Lago"
refugio, an unmanned, no frills hiker's hut completed with a fireplace, picnic table, and fences to keep out the grazing sheep and cattle.
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| View of Mt. Mattone Summit, from Il Lago Refugio |
From Il Lago, the summit of Mattone seemed simple enough to reach... but it took our last bit of pre-lunch energy to make it to the peak.
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| Il Pranzo alla Cima... Finalmente |
The most difficult part of this hike, however, was the descent. For one, the open meadow below the summit had no cairns... Once we found it, the trail proved to be a steeply-pitched mule track, washed out at several points by scree falls and littered with pine cones that made footing unsteady. Once off the mountain, though, the trail becomes a pleasant stroll along the headwaters of the Gizio, past an old church, and back into Pettorano Sul Gizio.
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| Trail Marker for Il Lago |
We had designs on being back in town for lunch at Il Torchio, a highly-lauded local restaurant in Pettorano. Thanks to a serious problem with guidebook that we used to find the hike, we underestimated the hiking time by 4 hours.
Peak: Monte Mattone
Elevation: 1,306 meters (4,285 feet)
Gain: 900 meters (2,952 feet)
Distance: 12 km, 7.5 miles
Conditions: Sunny, 60 degrees F
