Foreste Sacre - Stop 5: Camaldoli - Badia Prataglia

The fifth stage involves an ascent from the bridge over the Camaldoli ditch into the woods, which offers rare views of the monastery, up to the Cotozzo refuge, which can offer a modest emergency shelter. Continue halfway between beeches and gigantic fir trees, meeting the Duchessa Fountain and shortly after the asphalted road between the Sacro Eremo and Fangacci Pass, which is followed uphill. In a short time you reach the enchanting clearing of Penna meadow and from there the Fangacci Pass by cutting through the beech forest. Follow the road again for a few hundred meters, then take the ridge path that immediately forks: on the left you go to M. Penna in less than half an hour, a advisable detour for the extraordinary view of the impervious valleys cloaked in forests which converge towards the Ridracoli lake. The Alta Via continues instead going up Poggio allo Spillo (1438 m), on the right, and, shortly after, leaves the ridge at the Crocina Pass to descend along the steep Puntone ditch to the clearing of Campo all’Agio. From there, going left, you go directly to the Carbonile Refuge, along the road to the Mandrioli Pass; alternatively you can go directly to Badia Prataglia, where the ancient abbey church is definitely worth a visit.