The biggest oak forest in Europe

Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd of February will take place an alternative weekend between lands of Marche and Romagna.

It’s a breathtaking route with snowshoes on foot and branches of ancient oaks above the heads. The route is surrounded by the unique and snowy landscape of one of the biggest oak forests in Europe. The walk that brings to the valley of “Sasso Simone”, heart of Montefeltro region, is one of the proposals of ‘Il Ponticello’ - a cooperative of Pesaro - that since years it has been working with the goal to spread the knowledge of unique places but not very known; to respect, safeguard and promote the natural heritage, encouraging with its proposals and thanks to its expert guides, the adoption of a new way to travel. 

It’s a daily itinerary, perfect for enthusiasts of snowshoes and it consists in a walk about 10 km long. The best moment of the all day is when you reach the valley of “Sasso Simone”, inside the Sasso Simone e Simoncello National Park, in which you can find the ruins of the glorious “Eliopolis”, the fortress conceived by Cosimo Dè Medici.

Instead, the amazing landscape around the fortress looks eternal and glorious to all excursionists. In fact, from the valley there’s a great view that shows the real dimensions of the oak forest. The ideal place to all photographers.

And for those who are not afraid of the dark, there’s the opportunity to walk among snow and stars in the beautiful National Reserve of ‘Gola del Furlo’. It’s a late evening tour, in the middle of the silence; the goal of this experience is to see the Eagle Owl, a bird predatory that lives among the rocky walls of the Monte Pietralata. An expert tells the biology of this big night predatory using a movie projection, and at the end it’s time to start the night walk under the starlight.

But it doesn’t matter if you can’t see or hear the call of this amazing animal, because all participants of this walk will be able to enjoy the great view that stands out from the panoramic balcony on the ‘Gola del Furlo’.

During the way back, that lasts about 2 hours, it’s time to have dinner with local products of the territory.