Marche: Mount San Vicino and Elcito
Nature, enchanted beech woods and uninhabited villages
If you want to spend a different day or weekend in the Marche, Mount San Vicino and the uninhabited village Elcito can be for you. Here you will find panoramas, villages and beech woods where you can stroll carefree in nature.
Mount San Vicino
Hikes and picnics on the summit
This mountain is part of the Umbria-Marche Apennines and is located in the Province of Macerata. From a distance, seen from the south, it has the shape of a camel's hump and from the top you can enjoy a view as far as Dalmatia when the weather permits.
We went there a couple of times. The first time immediately after the end of winter: the road to reach the summit is always in the shade and we had found a lot of snow, while on the summit and on the sunny roads it was practically all melted. For this reason, we advise you to go in late spring avoiding inconveniences; like we did the second time around.
Upon reaching the top, you come across a very pretty stone shelter and next to it there is a valley with an incredible view of the plain below and the white Sibillini Mountains.
Once at the top you can take walks on the grass, have a picnic and relax in the sun. Especially in the summer, along the road, you can find the vans preparing sandwiches with porchetta!
In this beautiful Natural Reserve of Monte San Vicino and Monte Canfaito there are a set of traced routes that measure a total of about 48 km in part interconnected by means of "variants".
The tracks, generally ring-shaped, are characterized by different colors which indicate the difficulty of the route: Blue: easy with a distance of less than 5 km. Red: medium with a distance between 5 km and 10 km. Black: idemanding with a distance of more than 10 km.
The Nordic Walking Park, on the other hand, has 4 entrances with the relative presence of 4 display boards in which all the information on the routes and on the flora/fauna are indicated.
The route we have chosen is number 2: la Faggeta.
If you want to do the entire route, you can start from the parking lot of the Pian dell'Elmo campsite and continue along the paved road that leads to Poggio San Vicino.
After 650 meters, leave the asphalt for a white road that leads to the Abbey of Valdicastro, otherwise you can get directly to the Abbey by car.
After a stretch of about 4 km from the start (from the parking lot), you leave the white road and start climbing along a dirt road inside a forest of tall beech trees where you follow a path wide that joins up with the floors in front of the Pian dell'Elmo campsite and intersects with the Monte Moscosi route.
The route, as the official website also says (http://www. riservamontesanvicino.it/nordic-walking-park/) is suitable for everyone and presents no difficulties whatsoever except for a short uphill stretch with a rocky bottom.
The beech forest is wonderful and it is worth going there when it's not too hot: May/June are the perfect months. Or in autumn to see the red, yellow, and orange colors of the leaves left on the beech trees and scattered on the ground like a beautiful carpet..it becomes a magical and enchanted place.
Elcito
The uninhabited enchanted village
Also called "little Tibet of the Marches" or "the village of silence", Elcito is a pretty village perched on the slopes of Monte la Pereta, next to San Vicino. This small village bears the remains of an ancient castle erected to defend the abbey Benedictine of Valfucina.
The last 2011 census counts only 7 inhabitants who frequent this place almost only in the summer as owners of second homes. Therefore, the other months of the year it seems that it remains completely uninhabited!
According to historical sources, in this village, until the seventies, the approximately 200 inhabitants were self-sufficient and tied to their land, which was the primary source of subsistence.
They liveliness of this hamlet by a young and friendly couple, who ran a little bar and refreshed the visitors.
Here in Elcito, the very narrow streets do not allow access to vehicles, and in the square, which can be reached by following these streets, there is a small church. From any angle, you can admire the panorama of the valley but above all you can contemplate an atmosphere that has remained frozen in time.
Itinerary on the map:
