What’s best way to spend a holiday dedicated to nature, keeping in shape and enjoying stunning scenery? Hiking! If you love the mountains, long walks, nature and untouched landscapes, then wear your hiking boots, as Italian Traditions takes you to the top 5 best hiking places in Italy! The Belpaese offers many possibilities for hiking enthusiasts, various and ranging landscapes from the Alps to Sicily, each region will win you over with its parks and its unique characteristics.
Which are the best hiking places in Italy?
The peaks of Lavaredo
It is one of the three most famous peaks of the Dolomites, in the Sesto Dolomites, considered among the best-known natural wonders in the world of mountaineering. Located between Veneto and Trentino. From here you can enjoy the panoramic views of the Tre Cime Natural Park. Just as you leave the fields around Dobbiaco, you can begin a hike made up of breathtaking curves that alternate from gray rock to the blue of the high altitude clear sky, then opening up to the blue of Misurina Lake. This lovely stretch of water is said to be born from the tears of a king who was transformed into a mountain, who by seeing his own little daughter Misurina precipitate from its top, gushed out streams of tears, which then gathered in the valley. Between 1915 and 1917 the peaks of Lavaredo formed the war front. From this period, in fact, there are still apparent remains by the massif and the nearby Mount Paterno.
The Nivolet pass
When talking about the best hiking places in Italy, we cannot forget the Aosta Valley. We are in a corner of paradise, a plateau that ideally connects the Val d’Aosta and Piedmont regions of the Gran Paradiso park. Spectacular views, a continuation of icy peaks that are reflected in the waters of the numerous alpine lakes, with a maze of paths and trails that wind up in this corner of the Gran Paradiso National Park. The hill is a “High Ground” (2612 m), where you can walk on pastures and alpine ridges, and then rise even further in altitude up to the white glaciers. The two access valleys, the Piedmont Valle Orco and the Aosta Valley Valsavarenche are the two opposite sides of the same coin. From a hiking point of view of, the hill and its plateau can be considered both a point of arrival in order to contemplate the landscape,however, it is also a starting point for hiking or climbing for an alternative path.
The Park of Hundred Lakes
In between Emilia and Tuscany, along the ridge of Parma, lay countless glacial water lakes. A hike in extreme high-altitude meadows and beech woods, leads us to visit these gems of most varying sizes, from the tiny Lake Martini, to the large Lake Santo. The Regional Park of the Cedra and Parma Valleys, better known as the Cento Laghi (Hundred Lakes) Park, occupies a portion of the eastern Parma Apennines, bordering the provinces of Reggio-Emilia and Massa-Carrara. The mountainous area is characterized with lower altitudes (about 600 mt. on the sea level), a sweet agricultural landscape of meadows, hedges and forests. An environment that is still intact, where for centuries nature has mixed with human life, in order to create excellent food known and appreciated throughout the world such as the Parmigiano-Reggiano DOP and Prosciutto di Parma DOP.
The Freedom trail
The Freedom Trail is a path of about 60 kilometers of hiking, divided into three parts and three days, on trails through the Majella, in Abruzzo. The first phase of the path goes from Sulmona to Campo di Giove. The stretch Campo di Giove to Palena is the heart of the Freedom Trail, one of the three hiking trails in the Majella National Park. From Campo di Giove, there’s a nice trail that climbs the different mountain vegetation strips, with fascinating insights on the surrounding areas underlined by the historic railway line known as the “Trans-Siberian of Italy”, you can reach the Guado di Coccia, a transitional area from the Majella massif and Mount Porrara. The third and final stage leads to Casoli through the beautiful cultivated lands and after passing through Lake Casoli.
Supramonte
It is the largest and most wild mountain massif of Sardinia. Known for being the birthplace of important karst forms such as Gorge of Gorropu, and for housing archaeological sites like the Nuragic Village of Tiscali, it is the ideal environment in which to enjoy a hiking adventure. Here, there are two of the most famous hiking trails of the island : the Selvaggio Blu, which takes about seven tough days to cross along the Gulf of Orosei. Then there’s the Great Crossing of Supramonte, which runs through the massif from south to north in 4 pleasant stages. For those who don’t have so much time, you can still be satisfyied with the completion of a single phase of the trail, such as the one that passes through Pradu and reaches the karstic spring of Su Gologone in Oliena.