Читать книгу Italy's Sibillini National Park. Walking and Trekking Guide онлайн
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Breakfast (prima colazione) is a choice of té (tea), caffé served with latte (milk) or frothed up as a cappuccino, or just short, strong and black (nero) in espresso form. Children can often request cioccolata calda (hot chocolate), but parents should be aware that this rich dense luscious Italian version is highly addictive! Bread, butter and jam (pane, burro, marmellata) complete the picture, maybe a pastry if you’re lucky.
Plant Life
As is immediately obvious, the tree line in the Sibillini is virtually at a clear cut 1500m above sea level. The entire range was once thickly forested with beech and fir, but demands of livestock rearing and nomadic grazers, along with charcoal burners, progressively led to widespread deforestation, resulting in vast expanses of grassland on upper slopes. However, swathes of thick woodland persist at medium altitudes, a stunning spectacle in autumn with infinite shades of red and orange.
The flower arena is vast and extremely exciting for enthusiasts, as a remarkably broad array of blooms flourish thanks to the marvellous diversity of habitats. These embrace a range from low-altitude dry and typically Mediterranean terrains, woodland, pasture slopes, all the way up to alpine-like altitudes well over 2000m. There’s also a decent batch of ‘endemics’ – plants found in a limited geographical area. Most notably, the elevated central ridges of the Sibillini are the perfect haunt for the rare Apennine edelweiss. Like its iconic alpine relative it has creamy-coloured thick velvet petals and pale green leaves. However, this plant grows closer to the ground, presumably to protect itself from the strong winds prevalent here. It begins flowering in late June and is a protected species! Brilliant blue gentians share its habitat along with delicate pink rock jasmine and lilac alpine asters. Not far away on limestone scree are golden poppies and clumps of fleshy-leafed alpine cabbage, yellow and attractive despite the name. A little further down at meadow altitude flourish a wealth of divine orchids, including the exquisite insect types known as Ophrys. Elegant orange lilies and the wine-red martagon variety are never far away. Shady woods on the other hand are the perfect place for batches of deep crimson peonies.