Monte Cucco

Monte Cucco is one of the best places to fly in Europe: the air currents rising from the valley keep hang-gliders and paragliders aloft, and pilots from all over the world come here for long flights. If you have never flown, you can do a tandem flight, strapped to an instructor from one of the schools in Sigillo. You do not need any particular physical ability: you just need to be in good health.

You meet in Sigillo, take a shuttle up to Pian di Monte, the instructor explains what to do, you take a few running steps downhill and you are in the air. The flight lasts between a quarter of an hour and half an hour, depending on the wind that day. On clear days you can see the Sibillini Mountains, Lake Trasimeno and, to the east, the Adriatic.

Good to know

You only fly if the weather allows, and confirmation usually comes the day before: if flying is the reason for your trip, keep a spare day. Minors fly with a parent present. Each school has its own weight and age limits, and its own times: ask when you book.

Free flight on the park website

Inside Monte Cucco is one of the most extensive and most studied cave systems in Italy: about thirty-five kilometres of passages, going down almost a kilometre. A small part can be visited with guides.

The easiest route, the Percorso Scoperta, starts from Pian di Monte: about one kilometre and eight hundred metres of gently climbing path to the entrance, at 1,390 metres. You go down the Pozzo Miliani, twenty-seven metres, on an iron ladder, and then walk on earth, steps and walkways through the great halls — the Cathedral, the Sala Margherita, the Sala del Becco — about eight hundred metres inside the mountain. You come back the same way. Two or three hours in all.

If you want more, you can do the Traversata, which comes out on the other side of the mountain and returns along a panoramic path, or the Percorso Avventura, off the tourist route, with helmet and harness.

Good to know

Inside it is about 6 degrees all year round, even in August, with humidity close to a hundred per cent: you need layers, long trousers, shoes with sturdy soles and a light jacket. There are no refreshment points or fountains along the route: bring water and something to eat. Children can go in from the age of 8, minors with an adult; animals are not allowed. Visits are by reservation and depend on the weather, because part of the route is outdoors.

The Monte Cucco Cave · bookings also on WhatsApp, +39 351 282 7335

Not far away, still above Sigillo, is Val di Ranco: the Monte Cucco beech wood begins there, and almost all the trails into the woods start from there. Some take a short walk among the beeches, others climb to the summit, past the Rifugio Mainardi and Pian delle Macinare.

Where the wood begins is the restaurant da Tobia, the place where everyone who walks up there meets. You eat crescia, the flatbread of these mountains, made in front of you, and the dining room has a hundred-year-old beech tree growing among the tables and out through the roof. Good as a starting point, or as a finish.

From the Casale it is best to go up in the morning, walk, have lunch up there and come down in the afternoon.