Path of Monasticism
- Travelling time: 8h
- Difficulty: Medium
- Why we love it: For the sense of tranquility that it transmits.
- Length: 16 km
- Total Elevation Gain: 380 m
- Way to travel: By foot
- Cost: 0
- Our Advice: Bring along a water bottle-
The Path of Monasticism takes its name from San Giovanni Gualberto, protector of the forest and from Byzantine monks that builted their abbeys in these areas. The beginning of the path is characterized by a thick pine forest that descends into the valley until you reach the ruins of the ancient Abbey Pesaca. Founded in 970 A.D. by Basilian Monks, according to sources following the discovery considered miraculous by the residents of the nearby Taverna of an icon of the Virgin with a baby in her arms, the Abbey was born in 998 AD
From 1221 to 1328 the Abbey represented a place of significant and growing importance in the territory, so much that to guard its vast holdings the Torracena was built between 1428 and 1431. Even today the bell tower that rises to the sky symbolizes the importance of monastic Calabria. Continuing along the old road of monks you'll arrive to the Litrello waterfall, where are the characteristics waterholes contained between huge boulders..
Along the way you can admire the forests of oak, interspersed with some chestnut trees and a rich undergrowth of wild heather and some jagged very suggestive monolithic rock formations and some samples of pine trees that stand on the steep ridges of this side. The waterfall gives the best of itself during the spring, because most rich in water, and form very wide puddles further downstream where you can also swim. Going further you reach the church of Madonna della Santa Spina and the Torrazzo, the old "Torre del Baiolardo" where in the past you had to pay the duty. From here you continue for the town Carcarella and for Mancuso Village, famous tourist resort of Sila Piccola.