Monte Cervati via Capo di Testa with Vallivona Sinkhole

Premise

This route was completed on August 15, 2020, and all subsequent observations and considerations are fully applicable only to that day.

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Ascent to Monte Cervati via Capo di Testa starting from SP 18 at the entrance of Vallone Secco

You start from the small drivable road which is the beginning of the Historic Madonna della Neve Trail, and after a few dozen meters you turn left onto a narrower country road passing under private properties and crossing the Vallone Secco watercourse.

Immediately after the crossing, with a left hairpin bend, there is a right hairpin bend, and shortly after a trail indicated with a long black dash line on the hiking map branches off to the left.

The trail is very well recognizable until a point where the undergrowth thins and you need to climb the slope more directly: here it gets a bit lost among multiple animal tracks but then becomes clear again, slightly narrower but well marked on the ground.

Continue until entering a ravine in the woods with multiple terracing, obviously made by humans in a period when there was some cultivation or pasture instead of forest.

Here the trace is faint and stays on the right-hand side ascending, then it exits left onto a nearly flat free ridge and, always turning left, ends in a depression a few dozen meters wide that today was a typical jungle-like fern field to cross: it is the only part of the itinerary where we had to move vegetation with our hands.

Then trail traces are found again which soon converge into a very comfortable and wide path that continues for a long stretch, nearly flat, with a mainly northwest heading.

You cross a couple of secondary ravines and arrive at a wider and more marked one just beyond a clearing: here the long black dashed line on the hiking map ends and the dashed black line with widely spaced red dots begins.

There is a trail trace crossing the ravine that should link downwards to the trail from Ponte Inferno ascending towards the Vallivona Sinkhole.

To continue towards Capo di Testa and Monte Cervati, instead, ascend right before the ravine (practically without traces) for a few dozen meters and easily cross it.

Now, on the hiking map, a zigzag ascent is indicated passing through meadow corridors in the sparser forest: in fact there is no continuous trace on the ground, but it is quite intuitive.

You reach a very wide clearing which you ascend freely until just before a group of isolated trees near the top: here, in the grass, there is a marked animal trail going both right and left, and a trail fork with dashed black lines and widely spaced red dots is marked on the map.

For Capo di Testa and Monte Cervati, go left: the initially marked trail soon splits into multiple faint animal trails: both cows and horses “analyzing the organic residues on the path.”

These multiple trails continue with different diagonal inclinations: the next ravine to cross, according to the map, should be crossed at a slightly higher elevation, but we followed an almost flat trail then ascended on the ravine edge on another fairly stepped path.

Shortly before the crossing of this ravine (right where it closes against the slope) the trail becomes very evident and soon you reach the Capo di Testa watering hole where there is a large animal drinking trough: here my “four-legged lady” took a bath, the two-legged one… preferred to avoid it. 😊

After the Capo di Testa watering hole, continue a few dozen meters and then leave to the right the wide trail which continues gently downhill.

Here the hiking map indicates to turn sharply right on a hairpin and stay on discontinuous animal tracks in open field just below the forest edge.

Given the strong sun at the time, we instead decided to make a wider turn and climb on other discontinuous tracks in the shade of the woods: we reconnected further on with a comfortable traverse.

This slope is the very last south of Capo di Testa, whose summit could also be reached continuing straight on.

However, we followed the gentler lines “recommended by the hiking map” with a short final cut because no trails to the summit are marked, but it is all easy open field.

From Capo di Testa, go to the summit marker of Monte Cervati via the usual traverses also used in winter.

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Descent from Monte Cervati via the Vallivona Sinkhole or Affondatoio or Affondatore

Here we followed only familiar trails except for a couple of shortcuts to skip a few initial hairpins of the wide road climbing to the Madonna della Neve Sanctuary.

Everything else is well marked CAI and obvious.

Early afternoon and the season with leafed forest are not the best conditions to admire and photograph the two ancient White Firs found descending towards the Vallivona Sinkhole, which today – on Ferragosto – was quite busy.

For some photos of the firs and the summit under other conditions see the itinerary → Monte Cervati with loop on the south side from Ponte Inferno.

At the Vallivona Sinkhole we took a long break: one cannot just quickly enter and exit such a place.

Since it is possible to reach by car only a few minutes from the tunnel entrance, a REAL photographer can easily carry all the possible equipment (bodies, lenses including ultra-wide, tripod, and flash) on their shoulders and have fun for a whole day.