Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Hike around the Berici Hills (25/02/2024)

Ania and I decided to have a walk in the hills south of Vicenza. I asked my mother if she could drop us off with the car in Longare to start from there and skip the whole suburbs of Vicenza. From the cycling path in Longare we reached the nearby town of Costozza shortly after. As we walked through the town we first passed by the nice oratory of San Michele, a 15th century church in a mix of Gothic and Renaissance styles. Behind it behind a wall and fence, is the large park and building of the Villa Trento Carli from 1645. Continuing on we passed below another villa, Villa da Schio, with its beautiful terraced park. From the town, we walked through the countryside until we reached the next town, Lumignano. Here we stopped briefly at a place called Dal Presidente where we had a drink. After that, it was time to head up the cliffside overlooking the town. Following the rock face, shortly after we came upon the first crags and caves which are known to dot the area. One of them was even named the Treasure Cave, though in this case was rather a rock extraction cave and not natural like the others. A little further on we came upon a large section of crag where some climbers were practicing their skills heading up to the top. After a bit of walking through the craggy cliffside, we eventually came out on top of open fields and forest. We walked through the hilly terrain, following mostly a road, until we came in sight of the Fimon Lake from above. We made our slow descent until we reached the lake's southern shore. Here we walked along the western lakeside until we reached the little hamlet where we stopped for a lunch break at the Locanda Trentin. I had polenta and goulash while Ania had polenta with mushrooms called barboni. It was nice and filling and we then had more fuel to continue on our walk. We left the lake and headed northwards and passed the town of Torri di Arcugnano before reaching another town called Tormeno. Here we once again headed uphill, walking through nice streets sided by cypress trees and with views over the surrounding landscape. We walked on the ridge of the hills passing until we finally reached Monte Berico, the hill just south of the city of Vicenza. It was just around sunset and we then eventually made our way back to the house in the center. 

The church of San Michele Arcangelo in Costozza

A view of Costozza

The crags around town

The hermitage built inside the rock

One of the caves

Another cave

The crag climbing
A view of Tormeno and its surroundings

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