Sasso di Castalda-La Costara-Pietra Maura-Croce di Marsico-Sala Consilina

Introduction

This route was traveled on August 23, 2024, and all subsequent observations and considerations apply fully only to that day.

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From Sasso di Castalda to Pietra Maura passing through La Costara, Sentiero Mariele Ventre, Colle Margiotto, Piana del Prisco, and Monte dell’Arena

From the Municipality of Sasso di Castalda, following the signs, you leave the town on an asphalt road which you follow for about 600 meters before turning right.

Between the exit from the town and the first part of the asphalt road, you walk alongside the fence of the Deer Wildlife Oasis where a few "face-to-face" encounters with the numerous deer housed there are likely.

From the fork where you leave the asphalt starts a small path-track that, with ups and downs, leads beside the San Michele Stream and then crosses another asphalt road near a small picnic area (in the IGM map version of the Basilicata Region, the San Michele Stream is indicated as Melandro River).

From here you enter the Bosco della Costara on trail-like paths up to the San Michele Junction where the loop section of the Sentiero Frassati della Basilicata begins.

In today’s program, at the San Michele Junction, you turn right and soon reach the centuries-old Beech of San Michele; then continue to the "La Costara Picnic Area" where you exit the Sentiero Frassati della Basilicata.

Immediately after is the "La Costara Refuge" and with a short stretch on asphalt you join the Sentiero Mariele Ventre: a ... nostalgic bath for those who knew the golden days of Zecchino d'Oro.

Along small roads and trails you reach Colle Margiotto where you leave the Sentiero Mariele Ventre to head south towards the beautiful Piana del Prisco (today with several horses grazing).

In this section, the forest is "surprisingly variable": you walk among beeches, oaks, firs, pines, and more.

At the end of Piana del Prisco (on the right) is the small elevation of Monte dell’Arena, an excellent snack spot ... 🍔

From here, continue down a small road aiming for the evident Pietra Maura, which gives a touch of discontinuity to the gentle profiles of the various hill peaks in the area.

The detour for the easy climb to the summit is intuitive, and you just need to find the gate points to cross the side fence delimiting the animal pasture.

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Descent from Pietra Maura towards Via Zaccanello in Marsico Nuovo and passage on the central asphalt section

Returning to the dirt road from the summit of Pietra Maura, continue descending to a nearly round clearing: here you leave the wider dirt road for a track heading right-west.

You need to lose no more than 40 meters in altitude over about 400 linear meters of path, and the maps indicate several solutions, not all clearly visible today due to regrowth of ground vegetation (especially ferns); however, the slope is really very easy and presents no problems.

We continued on the diversion track for about 300 meters then exited onto a mapped path that was visible at points, which led us to join a lower dirt road that continues undulating among patches of vegetation.

Follow a long stretch among various farms and then reach the "Pozzo Pergola Uno" area of ENI where the small road becomes a wide dirt road up to the junction with asphalt on Via Zaccanello in Marsico Nuovo.

This asphalt logically arcs initially to the left, crossing the large basin that leads towards the Maddalena Mountains, avoiding the main central depression where Pergola is located.

It is useless to describe every turn ... just follow the GPS track.

The total length is about 6.4 km and you leave the asphalt near the Masseria Lo Giurato area.

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Ascent to the Cross of Marsico and closing the traverse at Sala Consilina descending on the Sentiero dei Marsicani

After locating the dirt road-track exit from the asphalt, climb for about 600 linear meters to a junction where you notice the right branch a few meters ahead is completely blocked by an impenetrable wall of brambles and bushes.

In theory, you would just follow this branch which is excavated in the slope almost like a ditch, but currently it is not possible.

So, climb back onto a grassy area to the left in the ascent direction gaining about twenty meters in elevation passing beside a large double oak.

Then exit the grassy area to the right following a series of still visible though faded construction ribbons.

Here you enter a low grassy area, with several close bushes and a fragile path: following the ribbons you enter a small wood from which you exit into an area with denser small bushes, and with a final turn to the right (still with ribbons today) you arrive in a meadow at the forest edge just before the Basilicata-Campania border.

Entering the forest, after a few meters and after the boundary low wall, turn right onto a small road-track and soon reach the Cross of Marsico where the CAI trail signs begin.

Following the CAI 604 signs, you reach the junction into the Sentiero Frassati della Campania, and continue on gentle slopes to the exit junction where begins the final descent along the Sentiero dei Marsicani.

The Sentiero dei Marsicani is well marked and walkable and today – unfortunately 😢 – we experienced the sad sight of passing through a part of the forest affected by a recent fire.

With a final stretch on wide roads you reach Sala Consilina where we had planned the traverse end at the parking near the Polo Culturale Cappuccini.