The Monti Sibillini

The Monti Sibillini national park lies between the Marche and Umbria and holds the highest peaks of the central Apennines after the Gran Sasso: Vettore at 2,476 metres, and Monte Sibilla, which gives the whole range its name. These are mountains of high grassland and ridges, without glaciers but with snow in the gullies into June.

The lake of Pilato, below Vettore, is the only glacial lake in the Apennines and is home to a small crustacean found nowhere else in the world. In some summers it dries up completely.

What there is to walk

The Infernaccio gorge is the best-known walk: you leave the vehicle and enter a cleft a few metres wide, in shadow with the river below. The Lame Rosse, above the lake of Fiastra, are pinnacles of clay and gravel that look like an American canyon, and are reached in an hour of easy path.

The earthquake

The 2016 seismic sequence hit this area hard. Some villages are still being rebuilt, certain mountain roads remain closed and some refuges have not reopened. Before planning a climb it is worth checking what is usable: the information changes from year to year.

The campsites are few and seasonal, nearly all near the lake of Fiastra or on the valley floors. The alternative base is the coast, an hour and a half below.