APENNINES | Cicerone hiking guide

hiking guide

This guidebook describes the Grande Escursione Appenninica (GEA), a nearly 400km long, three week trek crossing the Appenines in 23 stages, from Bocca Trabaria to Passo Due Santi on the edge of Liguria. The route dips in and out of Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna, never dropping below 400 metres. Best walked between spring and autumn, it is suitable for any reasonably fit walker. Highlights include Monte Prado – Tuscany's highest peak – friendly villages and comfortable hotel-style accommodation, memorable meals and yet few walkers, besides the Casentino National Park and Franciscan sanctuaries, the WW2 Gothic line, open ridges on the northern stretch, alpine-style lakes in the Apennines National Park, magnificent beech woods and alpine flowers.

The guidebook provides step-by-step route descriptions, accompanied by detailed mapping. There are transport options for joining and leaving the walk at a number of points, making it perfect for undertaking in small sections or single-day walks. There are suggestions for accommodation en route in comfortable guest houses and alpine-style huts, making it essential reading for anyone undertaking the GEA.

The Apennines are Italy's best-kept secret. Forming the rugged spine of the Italian peninsula, this range provides thousands of kilometres of marked trails over rocky crests and ridges and explores extensive forests and meadows, following routes established long ago by traders, pilgrims and shepherds and little affected by mass tourism. Dotted throughout are historic sanctuaries, national parks and nature reserves, wildlife and wildflowers, incredible roads and passes, and stark memorials to the terrible events of World War II.