Two days of trekking with a guide from 4 to 5 February 2023
A weekend of sea-view trekking on Elba, to explore the historic mountain crests of the southern part of the island with two guided excursions and one night in a hotel. The program, organized by Econauta.net, may vary if the weather conditions are not suitable. The fee, 180 euros per person in a double room and half board, includes, in addition to excursions and overnight stays, minibus transfers on the island, luggage transport and accident liability insurance. Drinks, packed lunches, any single room supplement and ferry tickets to Elba are not included.
What is formed is a small group: in fact, a maximum of eight people can participate in the program. It is necessary to book the excursion weekend on the telephone number 333 2653079, while, as regards the maritime connections to and from the peninsular coast of Tuscany, guaranteed by the ferries on the Piombino – Portoferraio – Piombino route, timetables, prices and other data are available, which can be evaluated before booking tickets online, at the link. This is interesting information for those who prefer to dwell on these details to have an overall overview with particulars relating to the journeys of the various shipping companies operating on the route (Moby, Toremar, BluNavy), before proceeding with the purchase, but also for those who want to quickly get a quote or buy travel tickets immediately.
The program, which includes the ascent to Mount Calanche and San Bartolomeo Hill (in the cover image), begins with the assembly at the port of Portoferraio on Saturday 4 February 2023 at 08:00, from where you are transferred to minibus to the starting point of the excursion (San Piero, a hamlet of Campo nell’Elba). To arrive at the appointment on time, you must therefore leave from Piombino with the Toremar ship at 06:30, arriving in Portoferraio at 07:30.
Excursion itinerary
The length of the first day‘s itinerary, which starts from San Piero and has the top of Mount Calanche as its destination, is 14 kilometers, and the difference in height is 850 meters. The descent route includes the crest of the Filicaie. Before reaching the protohistoric settlement located higher up on the island, it is possible to discover the reason for the name of this mountain: narrow gullies (calanques), especially on the southern slope, divide the ridges of the mountain range. After the Malpasso plateau you arrive at the Grottaccia Hill, characterized by the pastoral district frequented since the Bronze Age. You then pass through the Fosso dell’Inferno and the stone huts (domolites) of the Macinelle to then return to where the journey started (San Piero), have dinner and stay overnight in the hotel.
The second itinerary of the two-day excursion, Sunday 5 February, begins after breakfast, when you are accompanied by shuttle to Pomonte, to begin an itinerary of a guided trekking excursion 7 kilometers long with an ascent of 617 meters . After reaching the coastal village of Chiessi, along the Costa del Sole, you go up to the Hill of San Bartolomeo (437 metres) crossing a path among strawberry trees, heather, evergreen cistus and holm oaks to spot the remains of ancient settlements and of the Church of San Bartolomeo, in Romanesque style. From one of the scaffolding holes of the religious building you can observe the island of Montecristo. Continue climbing along the ridge to the summit, through a small via ferrata, and then descend through the Mediterranean maquis into the mountain basin of the Pomonte Valley, where there are chestnut trees, alders, specimens of florid fern, clematis and cherry laurel, and the watercourses Fosso del Guazzaculo and Fosso Barione join up. The stage immediately following the valley is the town of Pomonte, a hamlet in the municipality of Marciana, from where you are transferred with the shuttle service to the port of Portoferraio to return to the mainland with the ferry to Piombino. In the late afternoon, at the end of this weekend of trekking on the island of Elba, the sea transport runs are quite frequent, until 20:30, the time of the last departure.
