Overview of the itinerary
Sentiero Italia runs the length of the island’s eastern side, covering its most important mountains, in 28 stages. Starting from the north: it flanks the Monte Limbara massif, crosses the limestones of Mont’Albo and Tuttavista, skirting the Gulf of Orosei, it crosses the Supramonte, Gennargentu and the Tacchi of Ogliastra and reaches Perdasdefogu. Further south, it passes through Armungia and the Gerrei sub-region. Lastly, it touches on the villages of Burcei and San Gregorio, continuing on the Sette Fratelli massif to the old prisons of Castiadas.
General information on Sentiero Italia (Grand Italian Trail)
Sentiero Italia, or Grand Italian Trail, as also explained on the official website, is a walking route that crosses the whole of Italy, using mainly but not exclusively “registered trails”.
In particular, in Sardinia, not all the stages of the Sentiero Italia of CAI (Italian Alpine Club) are made of trails already included in the registry of the Sardinia Trail Network (RES), either because they have not yet been tested and approved or simply because they cannot be registered as they do not meet the requirements. However, as a whole, the Sentiero Italia is the single longest walking route currently crossing Sardinia from the north (S. Teresa Gallura, stage Z 1) to the south (Castiadas, end of stage Z 28), touching on the most fascinating mountain areas in central-eastern Sardinia: the plateau of Buddusò, Tepilora, the Cedrino river valley, the ancient forests of Montes, Perda Liana and the regional forest of Montarbu, Monte Genis, and lastly the regional forest of Settefratelli (among the many crossed by the various stages of this long hiking itinerary).
Information on this stage of the trail
Athis fairly long leg of the trail crosses the Tepilora Park, starting on an easy dirt road leading to the slopes of Mount Tepilora, where it continues on paths and old mule tracks until it fords Rio Mannu. The trail then begins to climb fairly steeply, including a few stretches of blacktop road, reaching the highest part of the route, with an east-northeast direction and wide-ranging views of the countryside round Posada, Maccheronis Lake and the sea in the distance.
The route continues on a short stretch of provincial road, then on recently restored paths and stretches of forest track until it reaches S. Anna di Lodè, with elevations varying between 400 and 625 m asl.
This route offers expansive views and frequent freshwater springs, sparing hikers from having to carry a heavy load of water.
Notes
Note of 30/08/2021. At the Juanne Stuppa forest ranger station, it is currently only possible to stay pitching a tent. Along the trail, there is also a natural stop point suitable for pitching a tent. At the end of this leg of the trail, in the S. Anna di Lodè locality there are a few B&Bs.
