Castelluccio dressing white
by Silvia Matricardi
In Umbria, the very green heart of Italy, at the border with Marche, inside the Monti Sibillini National Park, you can find an hamlet perched on a hilltop that stands on a large plateau, the Pian Grande, facing Mount Vettore. The hamlet is at 1450 mt on the level of the sea and it is the highest village of all the Umbro-Marchigiano Appenine. You can reach it from Norcia through a beathtaking panoramic road that goes up for 28 km.
When you arrive on top you cannot see the village immediately; your eyes cannot help wandering all along the vast space, to grasp something that moves. You can see the road that runs through the plain and the frame of mountains that bounds it; then at the end, if you lift your eyes a little, towards the left side, you see it.
It is Castelluccio.
The visit to the village can be done in some minutes: a square with several buildings that used to be stables and haylofts welcomes the visitor; walls are covered with white writings in the local dialect (incomprehensible also for Umbrians like me), messages exchanged among groups of inhabitants who used to discuss over local issues.
Besides eating in a local locanda you can practice many outdoor activities here: paraglidding, mountain-bike, trakking with mules, bird-watching, orienteering and, in the winter, sky, snowshoeing.
What I love to do when come up here, usually late in the morning, is stop on top of the road coming from Norcia and stay for a while: listening to the wind and loosing my eyes and my mind into the bright color of the grass, which can be green, red, blu, yellow, depending on the season.
Then I descend, by car, and I slowly drive along the road the cuts the plain; I stop half the way, park along it and step on the grass. You need to walk at least 10 minutes to get in the middle of the meadow, watching the many varieties of short plants and flowers that make the lawn. Then you find out that if you look towards the road, despite cars and motorbikes going once in a while, you cannot hear their noise. It is gone, shattered and lost in the plain, before it could reach your ears. This is something that always gives me a strong emotion, it makes me giddy, while filling my heart , as if I were lost in a place where there is no sound but that of the wind, and as if my eyes could find a spot were they can stop for a while and hold a specific image.
After a quiet walk, with good company or alone, you can take your car and drive to the village. Here you can have a panino, stuffed with the typical cold meats and salami: ham, sausages, salami or the strong pecorino cheese and eat it while seating on the benches you find outside most of the houses. Or you can stop in one of the trattorias you find here, run by families living here all year long.
Last time we were in Castelluccio, on February 14th, it was completely different from the other times we had been there: the Pian Grande was completely covered with fresh snow. That’s how it looked like. It was as if we were watching it for the very first time!
by Silvia Matricardi
In Umbria, the very green heart of Italy, at the border with Marche, inside the Monti Sibillini National Park, you can find an hamlet perched on a hilltop that stands on a large plateau, the Pian Grande, facing Mount Vettore. The hamlet is at 1450 mt on the level of the sea and it is the highest village of all the Umbro-Marchigiano Appenine. You can reach it from Norcia through a beathtaking panoramic road that goes up for 28 km.
When you arrive on top you cannot see the village immediately; your eyes cannot help wandering all along the vast space, to grasp something that moves. You can see the road that runs through the plain and the frame of mountains that bounds it; then at the end, if you lift your eyes a little, towards the left side, you see it.
It is Castelluccio.
The visit to the village can be done in some minutes: a square with several buildings that used to be stables and haylofts welcomes the visitor; walls are covered with white writings in the local dialect (incomprehensible also for Umbrians like me), messages exchanged among groups of inhabitants who used to discuss over local issues.
Besides eating in a local locanda you can practice many outdoor activities here: paraglidding, mountain-bike, trakking with mules, bird-watching, orienteering and, in the winter, sky, snowshoeing.
What I love to do when come up here, usually late in the morning, is stop on top of the road coming from Norcia and stay for a while: listening to the wind and loosing my eyes and my mind into the bright color of the grass, which can be green, red, blu, yellow, depending on the season.
Then I descend, by car, and I slowly drive along the road the cuts the plain; I stop half the way, park along it and step on the grass. You need to walk at least 10 minutes to get in the middle of the meadow, watching the many varieties of short plants and flowers that make the lawn. Then you find out that if you look towards the road, despite cars and motorbikes going once in a while, you cannot hear their noise. It is gone, shattered and lost in the plain, before it could reach your ears. This is something that always gives me a strong emotion, it makes me giddy, while filling my heart , as if I were lost in a place where there is no sound but that of the wind, and as if my eyes could find a spot were they can stop for a while and hold a specific image.
After a quiet walk, with good company or alone, you can take your car and drive to the village. Here you can have a panino, stuffed with the typical cold meats and salami: ham, sausages, salami or the strong pecorino cheese and eat it while seating on the benches you find outside most of the houses. Or you can stop in one of the trattorias you find here, run by families living here all year long.
Last time we were in Castelluccio, on February 14th, it was completely different from the other times we had been there: the Pian Grande was completely covered with fresh snow. That’s how it looked like. It was as if we were watching it for the very first time!
The first sight of Pian Grande, from the top of the panoramic road coming up from Norcia.
The village of Castelluccio.
The road running through the plain.
Loneliness.....
Traces of wildlife.
Very nice post!
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