CELANO RAVINES

Starting point: Ovindoli valle d’Arano (1325m)

Ascent: 545m

Approx.: 3 hours

Path markers: yellow-red n. 12

Return: by car Celano and Ovindoli

Warning: Not recommended in spring, windy and rainy days

Narrow  and embanked between high rocky walls, the Celano Ravines are  the most famous canyon in the Apennines. It is advisable to go there in steady weather and in absence of wind which can cause the falling of rocks. In Celano you can visit the beautiful Medieval Castle, presently a museum, which belonged to the Piccolominis and later to the Orsinis. From Ovindoli, along the asphalt road, you get to Orano Valley. At the end of this road you park the car and walk along the cart-road (about 3 kls ) at the end of which there is a fountain(1325m). This is the starting point of a path to the ravines. This is hardly visible on the grass leading to the little valley in an easterly direction ( red-yellow hardly visible marks on a stone).The path, a little ahead, becomes clear and well marked. You cross a thick beech wood, then down as far as the bottom of the ravines, keeping right and entering a splendid pine wood. You go as far as the brook and, after a brief walk, there is a  detour which takes you back and leads to the spectacular lovers’ fountain, a small, gorgeous waterfall. On the way back you take the path that gets rockier and with less vegetation until you get into the most spectacular part of the path and into the canyon. You go down between big rocks (many of  them are slippery) and you make the way out where the environment is open and the vegetation is rich. The path ends in an open space (780 m), where the ravines and an unsurfaced road starts  and leads to the road which goes up as far as Celano.

ANATELLA SPRING

Starting point: Rovere (1413 m)

Ascent: none

Distance: 3 Km

Approx.: one hour

Path markers: yellow-red 14 A

Return: same route

Easy and not at all tiresome excursion. It allows anybody to approach the mountain, enjoying the sweetest and the most tranquil aspects. It is recommended to all those who start making excursions in order to enjoy, walking, the beauty of the mountain nature. Sometimes you can spot roe deer and fallow deer in a big corral. From Rovere, nice little village on the highland of the Rocche, situated on a rocky spur 1413 metres high, you take a path in the direction of the cemetery, but on the opposite side, getting to a fountain. This is the starting point of a path. 

From here it starts a  track that goes into the glade parallel to the wood which is on the right. Then the path goes into the wood remaining at the border as far as the plateau of the Anatella where you find the fountain named after it. Beautiful scenery all over around. Going further you get into the tableland of the Prati del Sirente and into the nearby road which links Secinaro and Rocca di Mezzo.

PEAK (2348 m) TO THE VALLE LUPARA

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Starting point: Burned chalet Secinaro Rocca di Mezzo Road  (1150) at the km 12,5

Ascent: 1198 m

Approx.: 4 hours

Path markers: yellow-red n, 15

Return: same track

You face now an unusual but still beautiful part of the Sirente valley.  The north side of the mountain is characterised by vertical walls and steep channels. A very long ramparts which dominates the green Subequana valley underneath. To accomplish the excursion it is advisable to visit the littler villages scattered on the greenery. Gagliano Aterno with its impressive castle and the church ornated with a precious gothic door (thee hundred) with renaissance rosette; Fontecchio with its 14^th century fountain; Acciano with medieval church  and tower remains in the hamlet of Retti;  Secinaro with its church. Climbing up from the village of Secinaro or climbing down from Rocca di Mezzo, you get, on the road linking the two villages, to the “burned chalet” at the km 12,50 (1150 m) with a parking place nearby.  From here you can take a track which goes into the wood and further along, at a crossroads you turn left leaving on the right the path leading to the Maiori channel. You climb on to the wood following the signs and going on past a couple of unsurfaced places  you go on until you come out from the wood (1750m).  From eher you can see the noth side of the Sirente. The path goes again into the wood  and goes for about a hundred metres as fas as a little glade (1800m) where the wood ends. You go on then reaching a little saddle and then you cross  a grassy valley ; you cross it and then you climb on its edge and here finally you are in the Lupara Valley. With various hairpin bends and a steep uphill, you get to the top edge  leading you the peak (2348). Return: same track.

PEAKS FROM PIANI DI PEZZA

Starting point: Piani di Pezza  of Rocca di Mezzo (1468)

Ascent: 1018 m

Approx.: 5hours

Path markers: yellow-red N.1

Return: same track

It is a very long and panoramic track frequented by many visitors for two main reasons: it represents the entrance to the peaks of Cafornia and Velino from the Altipiano delle Rocche; besides it can be dived into two  excursions passing the night in the Sebastiani refuge. After the firsat part as far as Colle dell’Orso, from here on the track goes on completely on the edge overlooking the Velino group.  From Rocca di Mezzo (1277m) (Sirente-Velino regional Park) you take the unsurfaced way (sign with an arrow) leading to the Pialli di Pezza (1468m). you can walk on through the unsurfaced way which crosses the whole flat-land.  Getting to the bottom, you take the path on the right. You climb on enteritng the wood and with various hairpin bends  you enter the open and alpine Vai Cerchiata where at a crossroad it is indicated: right to the Sebastiani refuge, straight on to the Colle dell’Orso(2175m). From here you can reach, going south east, Colle del Bicchero (2075m). Be careful: the track not very visible it is indicated on the stones, but, often, there are covered with grass. From the hill  you climb all the edge as far as a little saddle to continue, then on a gravely  ground, on the edge of Cafornia leading to the peak reachable, turning left going past the memorial tablet  dedicated to don Ludovico Frenguelli, a priest who died here because of a violent storm. From the peak, coming back to the edge you walk on on the long edge leading to the Velino Peak (2468m). Return: same track.

TO THE SEBASTIANI REFUGE (2102 m)

Starting point: Piani di Pezza of Rocca di Mezzo (1520m)

Ascent: 590 m

Approx.: 2.30 hours

Path markers: yellow-red N. 1 and 1

Return: same track

The refuge, placed in a spectacular position is opened only in summer and has 6 beds. It was built in 1922 and belongs to the CAI of Rome.

You start from Piani di Pezza once you reach the flat-land  where cattle and horses are at grass; you cross it as far as the end. After parking your car, you start walking on a comfortable track leading to the right (yellow and red signs N1); it transforms, after a hundred metres, into a wide track which starts climbing into the wood with various hairpin bends getting out of a beech grove into Val Cerchiata rich of flowers in Spring and at the beginning of summer  with gentianelles,  alpine anemones and orchids; after that the path, near a big rock, diverts. Going straight on in the valley you head towards the visible Colle dell’Orso: taking the one on the right, instead, you come back into the wood, to go to the Sebastiani refuge (yellow-red 1A), Once yoy are out of the wood you walk across nice meadows and then a brook leading to the refuge. Return: same track.