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Brigand's Trail

Gambarie (Santo Stefano in Aspromonte, Reggio Calabria) → Serra San Bruno or Stilo, in the Serre · About 140 km according to the route's own site and italia.it; the Aspromonte National Park Authority's sheet on parks.it gives 120 km from Gambarie to the Serre, and the page on the Park's own site says over 100 km. · 7 stages, the last one splitting towards Bivongi/Stilo or towards Serra San Bruno; the site notes that stages can be split or merged (up to nine at most), and the Park's sheet speaks of six to eight days of walking.

Key facts

Start and finishGambarie (Santo Stefano in Aspromonte, Reggio Calabria) → Serra San Bruno or Stilo, in the Serre
LengthAbout 140 km according to the route's own site and italia.it; the Aspromonte National Park Authority's sheet on parks.it gives 120 km from Gambarie to the Serre, and the page on the Park's own site says over 100 km. (Sentiero del Brigante - Il cammino (GEA, sito ufficiale) · Discovering the Cammini di Calabria - italia.it (Ministero del Turismo) · Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte - The Trail of the Brigand (scheda dell'Ente Parco su parks.it) · Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte - Sentiero del Brigante)
Stages7 stages, the last one splitting towards Bivongi/Stilo or towards Serra San Bruno; the site notes that stages can be split or merged (up to nine at most), and the Park's sheet speaks of six to eight days of walking. (Sentiero del Brigante - Le tappe · Sentiero del Brigante - Il cammino (GEA, sito ufficiale) · Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte - The Trail of the Brigand (scheda dell'Ente Parco su parks.it))
CredentialThere is a personal Walker's Card (Carta del Camminante), obtained and stamped at the accommodation along the way; showing it stamped earns the trip Certificate from GEA. (Sentiero del Brigante - L'accoglienza · Sentiero del Brigante - Da sapere (Carta del Camminante, Attestato, FAQ))
RegionsCalabria
Official websitewww.sentierodelbrigante.it

In brief

Why walk it

It is a long walk almost entirely in woodland: beech, silver fir and laricio pine line much of the route, and the site stresses that you spend little time in the sun. Along the way there are torrents, brooks and waterfalls, the small lakes of Rumia, Zomaro and Mongiana, clearings coloured by broom and bracken in spring, and wide views from the ridge.

Wildlife is plentiful: the site mentions wolves, recently reintroduced roe deer, wildcats, black squirrels, hawks and golden eagles. Towards the end you reach the Marmarico waterfalls, where in summer you can cool off in the large pool at their foot.

The journey is also about history and encounters: traces of the brigands in place names and stories, the Bourbon ironworks of Mongiana and the Ferdinandea, the Cattolica of Stilo and the Charterhouse of Serra San Bruno. The site suggests seven days so as not to overdo the walking hours, to use the hospitality network and to taste local specialities, in mountains where it promises an unexpected welcome.

Sources: Sentiero del Brigante - Il cammino (GEA, sito ufficiale) · Sentiero del Brigante - Mongiana - Bivongi/Stilo · Sentiero del Brigante - Mongiana - Serra San Bruno · Sentiero del Brigante - Da sapere (Carta del Camminante, Attestato, FAQ)

The route

The Sentiero del Brigante is a hiking route along the Apennine ridge from the Aspromonte to the Serre. It starts in Gambarie and, after forking at the Ferdinandea, the estate where the Bourbon king Ferdinand II used to hunt, ends at either Serra San Bruno or Stilo. italia.it describes it as the route linking the Aspromonte National Park with the Serre Regional Park and Serra San Bruno, in the footsteps of the brigand Musolino.

The line was traced and reopened in the second half of the 1980s by GEA (the Aspromonte Hikers' Group), and the same association looks after it. Besides walking it, you can ride it on a mountain bike or a horse, and it can be joined at several points, also for a single section or a day walk.

Figures differ between sources: the route's site and italia.it give about 140 km in seven stages, the Park Authority's sheet on parks.it 120 km from Gambarie to the Serre, and the page on the Park's own site over 100 km.

Sources: Sentiero del Brigante - Il cammino (GEA, sito ufficiale) · Discovering the Cammini di Calabria - italia.it (Ministero del Turismo) · Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte - The Trail of the Brigand (scheda dell'Ente Parco su parks.it) · Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte - Sentiero del Brigante

The itinerary

The stages proposed by the site, each with its overnight stop: Gambarie - Piani di Carmelia (16 km), Piani di Carmelia - Zervò (10 km), Zervò - Passo del Mercante (26 km, with an optional halfway stop at Trepitò), Passo del Mercante - Passo della Limina (12 km), Passo della Limina - Croce Ferrata (12 km), Croce Ferrata - Mongiana (14 km).

From Mongiana you choose the finish: towards Bivongi and Stilo (24 km), via the Ferdinandea, the Marmarico waterfalls and the Stilaro valley, or towards Serra San Bruno (18 km) via the Ferdinandea and Monte Pietra del Caricatore. From Bivongi it is a short climb to Pazzano and Stilo. For Passo del Mercante the overnight stop is at Canolo Nuova, about 2 km away.

The site explains that the stages follow the places with beds and that anyone can split or merge them. The individual stage lengths it gives add up to less than the 140 km total it states.

Sources: Sentiero del Brigante - Il cammino (GEA, sito ufficiale) · Sentiero del Brigante - Le tappe · Sentiero del Brigante - Gambarie - Piani di Carmelia · Sentiero del Brigante - Zervò - Passo del Mercante · Sentiero del Brigante - Passo del Mercante - Passo della Limina · Sentiero del Brigante - Croce Ferrata - Mongiana · Sentiero del Brigante - Mongiana - Bivongi/Stilo · Sentiero del Brigante - Mongiana - Serra San Bruno

Difficulty and terrain

All stages are graded E (hiking), taking four to ten hours; altitudes stay mostly between about 760 and 1,440 m, with a low point of 442 m at the Marmarico waterfalls. The site states that the route has no particular difficulties or dangers, but its FAQ warns of small streams to ford, a short exposed stretch, sometimes rough ground and steep gradients. In winter the fords call for care and several areas get heavy snow.

No special training is needed, but you do need motivation and a little experience of walking on trails; there are many fountains and springs along the way, and the weather is usually good from May to October.

Waymarking is the red-white-red flag, often with the letters SB, together with wooden arrows. The site says the trail is registered in the Park's trail register under numbers 100 and 200, whereas the Park Authority's sheet on parks.it gives number 206.

Sources: Sentiero del Brigante - Il cammino (GEA, sito ufficiale) · Sentiero del Brigante - Gambarie - Piani di Carmelia · Sentiero del Brigante - Zervò - Passo del Mercante · Sentiero del Brigante - Mongiana - Bivongi/Stilo · Sentiero del Brigante - Mongiana - Serra San Bruno · Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte - The Trail of the Brigand (scheda dell'Ente Parco su parks.it) · Sentiero del Brigante - Da sapere (Carta del Camminante, Attestato, FAQ)

Hospitality and walker's card

Along the route the site lists several kinds of lodging: hotels with restaurants, mountain huts, holiday homes, a guesthouse, farm stays, a scattered hotel and B&Bs, plus trattorias and restaurants. At Croce Ferrata, however, you need to bring a sleeping mat and sleeping bag. Some places run fully only between April and November, and it is wise to ask ahead whether dogs are accepted.

By arrangement the accommodation providers offer luggage transfer and pick-up of walkers on their section of the route. They also issue and stamp the personal Walker's Card, which records start, finish and how you travelled, whether walking, cycling or riding. The trip Certificate is requested from GEA at the start and collected by showing the stamped card.

You can walk independently or join the organised treks: for those, the site explains, you just need to reach Reggio Calabria on the meeting day.

Sources: Sentiero del Brigante - Mongiana - Serra San Bruno · Sentiero del Brigante - L'accoglienza · Sentiero del Brigante - Da sapere (Carta del Camminante, Attestato, FAQ)

History and meaning

According to the Park Authority's sheet, this route was already used by ancient peoples such as the Sicani and the Bruttian-Lucanian tribes to move along Calabria, and it took its name from the rebels, fugitives and bandits who haunted it at the time of Greek and Roman colonisation. The route's site recalls Spartacus and the battle between his rebels and Crassus's legions in 72-71 BC, the sixteenth-century brigand Nino Martino and, last of all, Giuseppe Musolino, known as the king of the Aspromonte; remains of fortifications attributed to that period lie between Zomaro and Passo del Mercante.

GEA, founded in 1985, laid out the line between 1986 and 1989; in July 1991 it organised the first great trek, from Stilo to Gambarie, with fifty hikers on foot and on horseback. When the Aspromonte National Park Authority was created in 1994 the trail entered the Park Plan as its only thematic trail, and in November 2017 it joined the Digital Atlas of Italian Walks.

Along the way you pass the traces of the Bourbon iron industry at Mongiana and the Ferdinandea, the monastery of San Giovanni Theristis near Bivongi, the Cattolica of Stilo and the Charterhouse founded at Serra San Bruno by Bruno of Cologne in the eleventh century.

Sources: Sentiero del Brigante - Il cammino (GEA, sito ufficiale) · Sentiero del Brigante - Zervò - Passo del Mercante · Sentiero del Brigante - Croce Ferrata - Mongiana · Sentiero del Brigante - Mongiana - Bivongi/Stilo · Sentiero del Brigante - Mongiana - Serra San Bruno · Parco Nazionale dell'Aspromonte - The Trail of the Brigand (scheda dell'Ente Parco su parks.it)

Sources