ITINERARIES
THE GREAT SHOW OF THE RAGANELLO
The Park of Pollino: huge mountains, peaks that reach 2000 ms and minor reliefs that could be defined appenines, around wide pastures. And then the thick wood of turkey oaks, beeches, firs, pines that are along the valley of "La casa del conte" and of Terranova
And finally a "coup de théatre ", mountains that goes down the Ionic coasts and suddenly change colours and forms, getting harsh and tormented.
Director and protagonist of this extraordinary show is a river, the Raganello, that takes origins from the slopes of "Serra di Crispo" till 1800 ms of height and goes down for 32 Kms till the Sibari Plane, among deeper and deeper gorges engraved in the rock. In some long tracts the river flows among sheer walls high till 700 mts: it is where the weaker layers have opposed it a minor resistance, letting themselves be dug vertically
For geologists, Raganello's canyon is an exceptional geology lesson learnt directly from nature's voice.
For excursionists, that carefully can go down the river course, its final image is an inforgettable adventure: the giddy "Ponte del Diavolo" (The Devil's Bridge) near Civita that also adds the bewitched charm of legend.
Those fond of botany could find many rare species in the Pollino Park, among which the endemic one of the Loricate Pine that can be admired at the slopes of Mount Palanuda in 30 metres high specimens that are alwais in fight against the impetuous mountain winds.
Those fond pf fauna could even admire the royal eagle, the black woodpecker and a specimen of autochthonous roe-buck.
And there is even more.
Ruins of colossal walls that surrounded a mysterious town, between Morano and San Basile. The Prehistoric graffiti of the Romito's Cave. And the Albanian villages such as Lungro, Civita, Frascineto, Acquaformosa, where live still today the successor of Christian refugees exiled in Calabria during the Ottoman persecutions or of the mercenaries settled here in search of luck.
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Besides being an ideal place for long and difficult excursions, the net of paths and mule-tracks is also suitable for easy hiking, that is for walking and pic-nicking that are traditionally considered as mass ecological tourism.
The large net of roads that takes to higher woods and also the mild summerlike climate, make this massif a fit destination for families.
Well equipped both for summer sports and winter ones, in the Pollino area you can practice trekking, mountain bike and ski.
