Assisi and Monte Subasio Loop

The route unfolds within the Monte Subasio Regional Park, starting from the convenient parking lot of the Assisi cemetery and initially follows the road ascending to the walls of Rocca Minore, where you turn left just after Porta dei Cappuccini. From here the initial dirt road becomes a contour path on the southern slope of Monte San Rufino with a constant beautiful view of the valley, but always uphill until reaching near Fonte San Rufino. The path then levels out, allowing you to recover and then descend to the Hermitage of the Prisons. The Hermitage deserves a visit both for its position and the feeling of peace it transmits. After the visit, to continue you must go back passing through the entrance and proceed on the upper road, because the path continuing after the Hermitage might be closed by a gate once you reach the end. After about two kilometers of paved road, take the path that steadily climbs on the left up to the Sassopiano viewpoint, where you can admire the beautiful valley from Foligno in the south to Perugia and Lake Trasimeno in the north. We are now in the upper part of Monte Subasio and close to reaching the summit meadows, but it will be pleasant to walk this stretch among free-roaming horses with the peaks of the most important mountains of Central Italy gradually coming into view. Once on the meadows, a panoramic point is clearly visible with 360° indications of the surrounding peaks. After admiring the Apennine chain from Nerone to Gran Sasso, you begin to descend along a first unmarked but easy section following the GPS track to a watering trough. From here the signage reappears clearly and the path leads back to the road that previously passed above the Hermitage. Down to Assisi, retrace the same path you took climbing, then continue within the village, slowing down to admire the artistic beauties of its churches, squares and flower-adorned alleys. The grand finale will be the stunning Basilica of Saint Francis, which deserves time to be admired before returning to the cars.