Ancient village of Visso to Preci

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Day Four - May 28, Thursday; Preci, Hotel agli Scacchi

Todays walk starts with a transfer to the ancient village of Visso in the Monti Sibillini National Park. From here, you rise steadily to emerge onto grassy moors fringed by rocky peaks where you can sometimes spot deer and foxes. The views are superb and improve as you ascend along the broad spine of Monte Lungo. Later, as you wind gradually downhill towards Preci, you can detour to the cave and chapel of San Fiorenzo, one of many hermits' dwellings in the region (16 km).

Anna and I had decided that we were going to do todays hike, no matter what. After our quite delicious breakfast sitting outside in the Courtyard of the Abbey we loaded into a van driven by our Tour Rep, Luca Agostinelli. I got to sit in the front seat between Luca and John and so was able to see the countryside as we rode about 45 minutes to the ancient village of Visso which is inside Monti Sibillini National Park where Luca dropped us off and bid us Adieu. He said we would not see him again. He asked me to send him an email as he was bringing his family to Yellowstone next summer. I must remember to do that still. As it had rained quite hard the night before everything was still quite wet and muddy. Our trail began on a hardly used two track road which climbed quite steadily for a few kilometers. Once we came out of the trees we emerged onto grassy moors that rolled in all directions with masses of wildflowers everywhere. There was an old stone house long ago abandoned alongside the hill quite high up the trail/road. We continued walking uphill and finally began to walk up the spine of Monte Lungo. Finally, the weather had cooled down and I was quite comfortable. There was a strong breeze. The road/trail kept climbing up the spine until it reached the top and then worked it’s way back down from there. We found a spot somewhat out of the wind to eat our lunch that had been packed by the hotel, two sandwiches each on thick fresh bread, one with just cheese and one with ham and cheese, a couple of pieces of fruit and water. We could see mountains in the distance that still had snow on their peaks. We could also see to the valley below and how the land was farmed up the hillsides quite high all around. We wound ourselves back down the mountain mostly walking on a gravel road with a decent grade not too taxing on the knees except that it was a constant downhill which eventually wore out the knees anyway. We passed through an abandoned hamlet that had beautiful old stone houses in various forms of decay. The road at this point was quite steep and was made out of cobblestones making your feet become tired from the steepness and the rocks under your feet as well. Whine, whine, whine. From here we descended into the bushes before getting back onto another gravel road. This road was also very steep and it kept going down forever causing the legs, feet, knees to be very tired. Once we got down off the hill we could see our next night’s village laid out before us. Obviously we now need to climb again. How cruel. The fellas are in charge of the maps and guides and we just follow. Of course, our hotel is at the top of the hill which is great for views and all but sure is tiring at the end of a long day of hiking. We found our hotel, Hotel agli Scacchi in Preci at last and checked into our rooms. As usual, the view outside our room was fantastic as we sat at the top of the hill looking out over the whole valley. There was a church steeple very close to our room and I commented to Jeff that we wouldn’t need an alarm clock and that the bells would most likely begin tolling at 7:00 a.m. I turned out to be right in fact. We all converged at the outside bar next to the swimming pool and enjoyed some cold beers. Anna went swimming in the pool and then joined us afterwards. As it was still quite hot everyone was too hot to stay very long. We soon dispersed and I went to clean up.

Our dinner was included that night. We went downstairs to the restaurant and enjoyed another great dinner with lots of rosso to accompany it. The menu was a fixed menu but for each course we were given a choice between three to four different items and so everyone ate according to their own preference which was very nice.

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Photos

View of our next village from below
Preci, Italy

The crew enjoying the outdoors bar
Hotel agli Scacchi, Preci

View from bedroom window
Hotel agli Scacchi, Preci