Italy is not commonly associated with the “big sky” look of unlimited vistas, so the Grande Piano of the Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini between Norcia and Castelluccio, in eastern Umbria, is legendary. This ancient lake, at almost 1500 meters above sea level, is a cool Mecca for nature lovers throughout the summer. In spring and early summer, this natural basin--- 20sq.kilometers, blazes with colorful knee high wildflowers which a millennium ago replaced the sacred beech tree grove (faggietta) so that the local farmers and monastic communities (St. Bernard was born here) had forage for their famous pigs during the winter.
Few bushes interrupt the flower carpet of some of the most competitive plants in nature’s kingdom. Crocus, campanula (bellflower), ranuculus bulbosa (buttercup), cardus nutans (thistle), filipendula, linium (flax), salvia pratensis (a member of the mint family), sinapis arvenseis (mustard), papaver rhoeos (poppy), and echuim vulgara (bugloss) crowd the salvia pratensis (a member of the mint family, with the telltale “square” stem) and polygonum, aptly nicknamed “smart weed.” Beautiful as these blooms are, you do not want them growing in a carefully manicured home garden!
The soil in this mountain bowl, under some of the tallest peaks in the Apennine mountain range, is usually waterlogged until the middle of May and then drains slowly to feed the Nera River, which cuts a 40-kilometer canyon, called the Valnerina. In its course, the river is directed over waterfalls, through commercial fish ponds, and Italy’s most productive hydroelectric plants, all of which are visible from the Valnerina river road. In fact, the tallest waterfall in Europe, the Cascata delle Marmore, a waterfall-on-demand engineered by Romans in the year 271 BC, is on the route.
If you like clean air, beautiful scenery, 22-degree temperatures and lentils (the culinary speciality of Castelluccia), saddle your horse (also available to rent in the valley) or horse-power and visit before the visitors pick all this years blooms!
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