Summary
- Starting point: Torale
- Duration: 3:20 h
- Length: 13.72 km
- Difficulty level: medium
26. Torale - Pischiello - Poggio Bandito - Convento dei Cappuccini
We set out from the church of Santi Cosma e Damiano at Torale (334 m) and take the gravel road towards the cemetery, leading to Viale del Pischiello. When we come to a shrine by the cypress-lined avenue, we turn left and head up towards the Fattoria del Pischiello. The monumental cypresses that line the avenue, which is approximately 3 kilometres long, will accompany us to the junction before the buildings that comprise the centre of the Pischiello estate, which belonged to Count Sorbello (elevation 342 m). We turn left onto a gravel road that climbs steeply, passing through Casa Renaglia to reach Cima del Poggio del Bandito (610 m). On our way, we go through ancient olive groves and then forested areas, some of which heavily wooded, with pine trees and oaks, and typical shrubs: Spanish broom, junipers, rockroses and heather.
When we reach the summit, we take the ridge road that, heading right, goes to Le Guardie, with sweeping views of Monte Tezio, Monte Acuto and – naturally – Lake Trasimeno. We cross through pastureland and a pine forest.
At the pine forest, we leave Itinerary 50 to take a track to the right, going past the pines and continuing into the woods. This part of trail has extensive stretches of heather and its seasonal flowering is striking.
Following the signs, we come to the Capuchin convent. The unpaved road around the convent leads us to the beginning of a trail that crosses an olive grove with century-old trees – and is home to wild horses – followed by scrub that brings us to several houses surrounded by greenery.
From here we take a shady road that leads to Villa del Pischiello. We cross through the area of the villa and its numerous annexes to return to a stretch of the road we took at the beginning of our itinerary. From here, it is a short distance to Torale.
The total length of the itinerary is 13.720 km.