ROCCAPRETURO – SANT’ERASMO

Duration: 2h00’

The path is around 5km long, with a slope of 5% and an elevation of 500m, and connects the village of Roccapreturo with the hermitage of Sant’Erasmo, passing the church of Madonna della Valle, an evocative little church set in a rocky gorge. On the section between the church and the hermitage of Sant’Erasmo there are several little constructions “a tholos”, stone shelters used in the past by peasants and shepherds as shelters or for storing their tools.

On the peak of the mountain, there is the little hermitage of Sant’Erasmo, comprising a little church, containing a frescoe of the saint, and some rooms used for shelter. From here there is a breathtaking view of all the principle mountain ranges of Abruzzo and the surrounding valleys. Once you have arrived at Sant’Erasmo there is a path that leads to Bominaco or, turning to the left, down to Roccapreturo.

Nature

Leaving Roccapreturo the landscape has very little vegetation. Once past the little church of the Madonna della Valle, the woods begin, with downy oak, hornbeam and flowering ash. Along the path there are the ruins of various pagliare, buildings used in summer as lodging for those farming in the mountain pastures.

To the north-west are the slopes of Monte Acquaro, dominated by dry pastures with sparse junipers. The hermitage of Sant’Erasmo was a devotional focal point for the peasants who worked the land below and around it.