Monte Cervati and Cima di Mercori from Sentiero del Maggiociondolo

Premise

This route was traveled on August 11, 2021, and all subsequent observations and considerations may only fully apply to that day.

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From the parking lot, you quickly reach the junction at the start of the Sentiero del Maggiociondolo, which undulates lightly passing above the Source of the Calore River.

Then it continues for a long time with always easy slopes until a junction where straight ahead, via the Sentiero del Lupo, you head towards the Cervati Refuge, while to the right there is the Sentiero delle Gravocciole that climbs more steeply toward Monte Cervati.

According to my GPS, this entire stretch of the Sentiero del Maggiociondolo is about 4.3 km in linear travel with 350 meters of ascent and 50 meters of descent; the footprint on the ground is not always very clear, but it is really very well marked by CAI-style signposts and there are no problems.

The Sentiero delle Gravocciole, instead, does not go across but climbs directly up the slope, with several hairpin bends at the beginning and then a longer diagonal.

The climb is continuous but we always found a good base for the shoes that did not slip even on the steepest stretches.

Anyway, I imagine that on humid or wet days the pace would not be exactly relaxing.

At the summit area of Monte Cervati, we made a full loop of the large doline which looks like a big crater: on the northeast side there is a well-marked trail and the rest is on an easy ridge.

Then we went to "check" the snow condition inside La Nevera on August 11: there was still quite a lot and it's clear it never really lacks here.

Finally, before the very easy final descent, we climbed to Cima di Mercori from the hiking pass side of the Croce di Vallivona area which is along trail CAI 511.

It is the only part of the entire hike on traces that are not completely evident and which I describe separately below.

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Ascent to Cima di Mercori

Descending from La Nevera, you enter trail CAI 511 and return uphill for 150-200 linear meters towards the pass immediately after which the carriage road of Cervati would be found.

A few meters before the pass there is a meadow on the right, which you cross towards the upper part heading to the forest.

Just entering the forest, an unmarked but quite evident trail trace begins, continuing with a single diagonal until exiting that stretch of forest.

At the exit, you enter a steep meadow slope with hard ground and many stones.

Here the walking path continues very wide crossing the entire meadow area, which however must be climbed before entering the next small forest.

Soon after entering the meadow slope, a thinner trace can be seen that climbs zig-zag to the right but "almost dies" higher up: this can also be taken.

We comfortably crossed on the wider trace and then climbed to the edge of the next small forest, without continuous traces but always on solid, stepped steps even if steep.

Then you cross above the head of the forest just below a band of rocks, enter another smaller meadow area from which you quickly climb into another small forest: here there is a (sometimes more than one) animal trail guiding near a small ridge up to the summit of Cima di Mercori which is in "open field but not too much," meaning it is in open field but the surrounding vegetation does not allow a 360° panoramic view.

From the exit of trail CAI 511 to the summit there are about 230 meters of elevation gain.