In the heart of the Marche region there is the Gola della Rossa and Frasassi Natural Park, the second largest park in the Marche region. Frasassi safeguards a hidden but beautiful place: Valle Scappuccia! This route is circular with the departure and arrival from the center of Genga, a small village perched with its ancient castle walls on a rocky ridge above the Sentino river. The first part of the journey takes place on a quiet tarred road and crosses a rural landscape and small woods interspersed by the San Francesco waterfall and Lake Fossi.
The landscape at this point is enriched by the Picco and Monte Termine peaks: we are about to enter Valle Scappuccia! The entrance is through a gorge, a narrow rocky valley that forces us to wade across the shallow and crystalline waters of the Scappuccia stream.
The path continues to penetrate the valley in a pleasant up-and-down path and the wood at this point is rich with beeches, Holm oaks, maples, Butcher's Broom and the rare greater Ephedra. During the journey it is not uncommon to come across tracks left by foxes, wolves, porcupines and wild boar and to see the red kite in flight, a majestic bird of prey subject of a reintroduction project in the park. The return to Genga is along the "Path of the Pope" (Sentiero del Papa), a path caught between the views of the Sentino valley and the aromas of Summer Savory and Helichrysum.
