Mount Cucco and its wonders: from Val di Ranco to Pian delle Macinare

We will have a sensational experience, traversing the oldest forest in the park, known as the“Mother of Beeches,” where, as the name suggests, towering, centuries-old beeches, with their distinctive features and majestic roots, are the undisputed lords of the place.

Walking inside the relaxing and enchanting beech forest, you reach the“Cold Water Spring,” where you can sip cool spring water. A wide up and down in the deep valley, then continue uphill and somewhat steeply: rock faces and small clearings, beyond which the walls of Monte Cucco overlook the Rio Freddo Gorge, among the most pleasant and wildest valleys in the park and in Umbria. Soon after, the large meadow of Pian delle Macinare opens up, a wide valley of karst origin surrounded by dense forest, where lunch is available at a local restaurant. Turning back, one glimpses the mouth of the Rio Freddo Gorge and then ascends the path along the stream back to the starting point.