Foreste Sacre – Stop 1: Ponte lake – San Benedetto in Alpe

The first stop of the Sacred Forests Path takes us from the southern shores of Ponte lake to the valley of the Campacci ditch, immediately steeply uphill in the beautiful mixed forest where the beech trees soon begin. After an eroded and panoramic ridge you arrive at Colle del Tramazzo (971 m), where you continue on an almost flat forest track. The descent along the Susinelli ridge soon begins, which after the summit of the same name rapidly descends towards the valley of the Acquacheta ditch, first among woods and pastures and then on bare sandstone slabs. Before reaching the road to Peschiera Pass, you cross the path that runs high up the valley to the houses of Poggio, the upper part of the town of San Benedetto in Alpe, with the narrow houses around the ancient Benedictine abbey. There a beautiful paved path leads to the village called Il Mulino, at the confluence of the Troncalosso and Acquacheta ditches which join the waters in the Montone river. Eventually you can skip the stage in San Benedetto to stay overnight at the Eremo dei Toschi over the Acquacheta valley in the direction of Muraglione Pass by extending the stage by 2.30 hours but above all by reducing the next stage from 8 hours to 5 hours.