Italia: Umbria: Spoleto: Alpine Camino Trails

Italia-Umbria-comune di Spoleto

alpine camino trails await me this day... 

as I wind my way thru the ancient parts of the hilltown of Spoleto,...

 

walking up from the train station, you will pass along this lovely walkway... 

and will turn to the left and walk under the state highwa

Heading out we are able to walk below the state highway...  

and along alpine trail section 3.

  

In the above picture, we look back at Rocca Albornoziana ancient stronghold castle perched above it's ancient hilltown of Spoleto.  

Looming over this sign is our destination for today's excursion, Monteluco Mountain, and upon it's slopes are contained a three millenia old Sacro Bosco (Sacred Grove), and we are traveling footpaths as well of ancient people including Saint Francis of Assisi. 

Before we begin out of the valley and while on this side of the state highway, we stroll by an ancient church and monastery...  and just beyond it is a UNESCO world heritage site...

Ascending then up hill along the shorter of the two trails, I loop around until I am on the other side of the ancient acquaduct that served the Lombardo Castle and hilltown Spoleto.

Below we see our location on the trail as 

Giro dei Condotti at 430 meters

Trail markers and signage of this alpine trail / camino are: 

- red ancient cross (like a T ) 

- red and white stripe 

http://www.coninfacciaunpodisole.it/altri-luoghi-italiani/253-monteluco-di-spoleto-il-bosco-sacro-e-l-eremo-di-san-francesco

Sacro Bosco (Sacred Grove) to Jupiter

In the wonderful Spoleto museum near the ancient roman theater are displayed two ancient stone pillar cippo in archaic latin that marked the codices of the Sacro Bosco (Sacred Grove) to Jupiter

The lush vegetation of the ‘sacred wood' covers Monteluco (800 m high), the hill connected to the city of Spoleto by the spectacular Ponte delle Torri. 

The timeless importance of the woods is proven by its very name (lucus = sacred wood) and the ancient and strict laws of Lex Spoletina: the first example of forest management, if you will, was carved in stone in archaic Latin in the 3rd century B.C.E. and established punishments for anyone desecrating the sacred woods then dedicated to Jove.

The Scared Wood of Monteluco is full of evergreen oaks, a rarity in areas so far from lakes or the seashore, and they provide an ideal habitat for coleoptera beetles, green woodpeckers, great spotted woodpeckers, creepers and nuthatches.

There are plenty of hermitages and caves, including the one of Saint Anthony of Padua; they are easy to reach on foot over trails that wind through the woods behind the Sanctuary of Saint Francis (or the Franciscan Hermitage).

As you climb up Monteluco you'll find the church of Saint Peter, built in the early 5th century over an ancient villa, a fine example of Umbrian Romanesque architecture, and the Romanesque church of Saint Julian, which was constructed in the 12th century to replace a 6th-century building and then renamed after the saint. Further up is the Sanctuary of Monteluco, a Franciscan settlement they say Saint Francis himself founded in a place donated to him by the Benedictines along with a small church they had dedicated to Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

The Sacred Woods of Monteluco was recently recognized as a European Commission Habitats Directive Site of Community Importancescrizione con la legge del bosco sacro (LEX LUCI)

CIPPO A

Calcare

il meta del III sec. a.C.

Da Castel Ritaldi, loc. San Quirico

 

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