Contact me by info@molisetrekking.com for a date
The tour “Trails of Matese Mountains in wintertime” gives you the chance to experience a high-quality, naturalistic, historical and cultural based, architectural, and eno-gastronomic vacation. Starting from a countryhouse close Sepino, we move along the major natural and historical-artistic pathways of the Matese moutains, alternately by snowshoes trekking and walking tour.
Duration: 4 walking days, 5 nights, 6 days overall.
Destination: Sepino, Monti del Matese e Campobasso.
Trail type: mountains in a snowy environment.
Features: cultural and historical; experiential; natural; food and wine.
Accommodation: countryhouse.
Where to eat: countryhouse.
Group size: 8 people.
Difficulty: Medium
A few moderate uphills. Many downhills and plateau walks. The trail contains a mix of steep uphill and plateau walks. The total uphill and downhill height differences are about or slightly exceed 600 meters (1968 ft). The routes do not present any technical difficulty (use of mountaineering equipment). Hikes are suitable to all ability levels, though you may need to be trained for mountain walking and on the snow (if any). Hikes are on foot. Fixed and same place for the overnight. Short trips are by motorized vehicle. Overnights are comfortable.
Length of the itinerary: 52 km (32.3 mi)
Total elevation gain: +2110 m (+6922 ft)
Total elevation loss: -2180 m (-7152 ft)
Enticing atmospheres in the medieval historical centers of Guardiaregia, Roccamandolfi and Campobasso, with their artistic beauty seen in palaces, churches, fountains, crossroads, gardens, and more.
The Roman city of Saepinum and Samnite city of Saipins, Italic temple and then the medieval church of San Pietro dei Cantoni, the Regio Tratturo Pescasseroli-Candela, endless transhumances, the places of the apparition of Madonna Addolorata and of Cristo Morto near Castelpetroso.
The Mountains of Matese are one of the most beautiful Apennine chains in central and southern Italy. The great lush nature includes a Site of Community Importance (Sics) of the Natura2000 network. Wide and panoramic sceneries are met by awe-inspiring beech woods, caves, lakes, gorges, rocky environments and peaks from which you can see Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas at the same time.
Your journey will be enriched by the delicious traditional cuisine of Molise and its excellent drinks. Traditional products and dishes, often handmade and old-fashioned, brighten the evenings of walkers. You can taste cheeses such as caciocavallo, pecorino, burrata, and manteca and try cured meats like soppressata, ventricina, capicollo, and rolled up ventresca. You can eat local seasonal vegetables and legumes and can drink Moscato white wine and Tintilia red wine.
In moments of rest, you will meet local experts, who tell stories and traditions of the pastoral culture of Molise. Then, you can take some cooking classes about traditional Molise cuisine.
Day 1
Arrival at Bojano and meeting with Professional Nature and Interpretive Guide.
Transfer by motorized vehicle to Sepino, in a countryhouse, where we stay with a local family for all the trip.
Accommodation and explanation of the journey.
Dinner in countryhouse.
Night in countryhouse, in twin rooms with private bathroom.
Day 2
After breakfast, we transfer by motorized vehicle to Sella del Perrone (Guardiaregia), where we start a hike to discover karst phenomenons.
Packed lunch.
Private transfer by motorized vehicle to the countryhouse for the rest.
Dinner in countryhouse.
Night in countryhouse, in twin rooms with private bathroom.
If there is snow, the excursion will be on snowshoes.
We are on the border between Molise and Campania. It is a natural and solitary place, rich in luxuriant beech-woods, with amazing panoramic balconies on the peakes of Matese and on a large and fascinating karst lake, the lake of Matese. What will give greater emphasis to snowshoes trekking are the deep abysses of Pozzo della Neve (-1048 meters (-3438 ft) depth and over 8000 meters (26246 ft) of development) and Cul di Bove (-913 meters (-2995 ft) depth and 3900 meters (12795 ft) of development), large caves born from water erosion and very famous in the italian speleological field. After the hike, we have a short visit to the village of Guardiaregia and the lower part of the Natural Reserve and WWF oasis of Guardiaregia-Campochiaro.
Technical Information
Duration: 7.5 hours (rest-times not included).
Length of the trek: 18 km (11.2 mi)
Total elevation gain: +670 m (+2198 ft)
Total elevation loss: -740 m (-2427 ft)
Difficulty: medium.
Day 3
After breakfast, we transfer by motorized vehicle to Roccamandolfi, where we start a hike.
Packed lunch.
Private transfer by motorized vehicle to the countryhouse for the rest.
Dinner in countryhouse.
Night in countryhouse, in twin rooms with private bathroom.
If there is snow, the excursion will be on snowshoes.
Naturalistic hike, discovering a solitary corner of the Matese: the Roccamandolfi area. Starting from the Guado la Melfa mountain refuge (or earlier, if we can’t reach it by minivan), we go up the Campitello Valley, through beech woods, panoramic balconies and karst plateaus, until we reach an interesting panoramic point called the Precia. Having admired the landscape, we comfortably descend to the main plateau and return to the starting point. After the hike, we visit the ruins of the Roccamandolfi castle and the village, characterized by many stories about the historical phenomenon of Brigandage.
Technical Information
Duration: 4 hours (rest-times not included).
Length of the trek: 9 km (5.6 mi)
Total elevation gain: +300 m (+984 ft)
Total elevation loss: -300 m (-984 ft)
Difficulty: easy
Day 4
After breakfast, we transfer by motorized vehicle to shrine of Castelpetroso, where we start a hike.
Packed lunch.
Private transfer by motorized vehicle to the countryhouse for rest.
Dinner in countryhouse.
Night in countryhouse, in twin rooms with private bathroom.
If there is snow, the excursion will be on snowshoes.
From the fascinating Basilica Minore dell’Addolorata, a church with an attractive neo-Gothic profile, we go up along the so-called “Via Matris” to the place of the apparitions, which took place in 1888, of the Madonna Addolorata and the Cristo Morto to some shepherdesses of a very small Molise village, Castelpetroso. From here we begin to skirt Monte Patalecchia (1400 meters (4593 ft) above sea level), and then climb the Difenzola (1398 meters (4586 ft) above sea level), between sweeping views of Matese itself, on Mainarde, Montagnola Molisana and the mountains of southern Abruzzo. Back down from the Difenzola, we return to the chapel of the apparitions on a comfortable forest track. Then, we go down to the place of worship.
Technical Information
Duration: 4.5 hours (rest-times not included)
Length of the trek: 15 km (9.3 mi)
Total elevation gain: +590 m (+1935 ft)
Total elevation loss: -590 m (-1935 ft)
Difficulty: medium
Day 5
After breakfast, we transfer by motorized vehicle to Altilia district (Sepino).
We start a hike through the centuries, through the rich history of a small town in Molise: Sepino.
We visit San Pietro di Cantoni, Conventino, Saipins, and Saepinum. All archeological areas.
Packed lunch.
Private transfer by motorized vehicle to the countryhouse for rest.
Dinner in a countryhouse.
Night in countryhouse, in twin rooms with private bathroom.
If there is snow, the excursion will be on snowshoes.
Starting from Regio Tratturo “Pescasseroli-Candela,” old tracks for the transhumance of sheep and shepherds in the South Italy, we climb the first hills and we arrive at the Samnite temple and then the Christian cult area of San Pietro di Cantoni. Along the ascent we find the ruins of Conventino of Santa Maria degli Angeli, a small nineteenth-century Franciscan monastery. Even more towards the hills we visit the Samnite village of Saipins, in Terravecchia, at 953 meters (3126 ft) above sea level, we’ll admire the ruins of the pre-Roman city (4th century BC), with a double defensive wall made of large boulders and three small doors: Matese seating area, the door of the Acropolis, and the one of Tratturo. Once we arrive at the top of the hill, we go down until we reach the magnificent Roman city of Saepinum (a foundation of the 2nd century BC and maximum splendor in the Augustan age, between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD). A real archaeological jewel, the Roman city has the classic urban layout with decumanus (still paved) and cardo, the entire city walled in to mark the boundaries, four monumental doors, the theater, the baths, the forum, the basilica, the campus-pool-porticus complex, the macellum, two neighborhoods of housing, and much more.
Technical Information
Duration: 4 hours (rest-times not included).
Length of the trek: 10 km (6.2 mi)
Total elevation gain: +550 m (+1804 ft)
Total elevation loss: -550 m (-1804 ft)
Difficulty: easy
Day 6
Time to say goodbye and go back.
After breakfast, we transfer by motorized vehicle from the countryhouse to Campobasso.
We visit the historical center and transfer to the railway or bus station of Campobasso.
In a group of 8 people.
What’s included
What’s not included:
Notice: This program may be to change, before and during the journey. Changes are based on the climate, the needs of travelers and the people that host the group of travelers.
