Anello della cascata

Description

A magical atmosphere reigns in the Zompo lo Schioppo Nature Reserve. Walk along the evocative stairway and immerse yourself in the colors and scents of this unique natural setting.

Surrounded by centuries-old beech trees, you'll soon be overlooked by sheer rock faces and breathtaking caves. From here, you'll reach the famous Hermitage of Santa Maria del Cauto, an enchanting place immersed in the immense silence of the beech forest, used since the Middle Ages as a refuge for hermits, monks, and solitary men seeking spirituality. This place will surely touch the hearts of the most religious, and not only.

From here, continue the trail, completing the loop, but before reaching the starting point, a detour is a must to visit the base of the Zompo lo Schioppo Waterfalls, the reserve's jewel in the crown. It's impossible not to admire the vertical limestone wall from which, in spring, a karst spring gushes: the Schioppo Spring, creating a spectacular waterfall over 130 meters high.

The Schioppo stream is home to brown trout, which feed on the countless friganae present in the stream. These also feed the dipper, a species endemic to pristine environments, which can be observed darting along the stream.

As the forest thickens, signs of wild boar begin to appear, especially in the mixed forest area, where roe deer, reintroduced to the Reserve several years ago, are also found. The rocky environments are also home to very rare species, such as the eagle owl, wallcreeper, peregrine falcon, and red-billed chough, while the beech forest hosts numerous species of great scientific and naturalistic interest.

Among these, the Marsican brown bear stands out, undoubtedly the most valuable presence, the Apennine wolf, the marten, among mammals, the white-backed woodpecker, a very rare subspecies localized in a few areas of the central-southern Apennines, present in the most mature sectors of the beech forests, and also the middle spotted woodpecker, also uncommon, the lesser spotted woodpecker, the goshawk, an uncommon woodland bird of prey, the sparrowhawk, the short-toed treecreeper and many other birds.