Campo ai Peri - Monte Orello - Acquabona - Trekking excursion in Elba

Length of route: 6 km;
Average time it takes: 4 hours;
Difficulty: medium-easy.

In Campo ai Peri, exactly where the road for Buraccio joins up with the main road, take the farm road next to Casa Marchetti. After about 100 metres in the direction of the foot of the valley you reach the Fosso dei Catenacci, and here, next to a stone building, there is a sharp right turning between some villas. Go past the last house, keep going for another 100 metres, through wild bushes and large cork oaks, until you get to the end of the grit road; now follow a path that takes you to the opposite side of Fosso dei Catenacci.

After having done a few metres, you get to a 1,50 metres wide path that winds its way through broom and white cistus. You now have a difficult 30 minute walk up hill, and when you get to the top you can see both sides of Monte Calamita: the gulf of Porto Azzurro on your left and Golfo Stella on your right.

Keep going, and after about 20 minutes you get to a thick pine wood (pine and stone pine); keep walking uphill along the steep path.

Once you reach the junction of two forest roads, keep to the one that goes up hill, and in about ten minutes you'll find yourself at a clearing, where you can still see some old military fortifications of the Second World War. With the entry to the port in Portoferraio as your reference point on your left, you have to follow a wide forest road that cuts right through the large pine grove and goes round the mountain; in this area you will very likely see some red-legged partridges.

Keep going for about another half hour and you'll come to a clearing where there are absolutely no trees, used for preventing fires from spreading, called cessa parafuoco (fire break).

Go past it and follow a steep, narrow path that takes you to the top of Monte Orello, 337 metres above sea level, where you will see more military remains.

In order to get back down, follow the mule track that goes past the pine grove; then you will find your self in an area of holm oaks, strawberry trees, broom and cork oaks. Go down a steep, rocky slope for about three quarters of an hour and you will get to a grit road about two metres wide that goes down in the direction of the Acquabona golf courses, which then leads straight to the main road, where your excursion comes to an end.

Information from the Tuscan Archipelago Tourism Promotion Offices