Italian walks: trekking in Calabria region

A sea view is difficult to escape in the region of Calabria, bordered by both the Ionian and Mediterranean seas. Yet it is mainly a mountainous area, with grand valleys and wooded hills, artificial lakes and granite crags. It proffers innumerable hiking tracks and walking expeditions.

In the National Park of the Aspromonte, known for its powerful water courses, the Italian Alpine Club has marked out a trek from the Passo del Mercante to Mongiana. The park also features a Greek walk along the suggestively named Cloudy River and Saddle's pass, to the Sanctuary of Saint Nicodemo.

Aspromonte itself is famous for Giuseppe Garibaldi's battle to liberate Italy, landing with 3000 soldiers to march on Rome. It was a battle he lost, defeated and captured, but the area's negative association with this historic loss has been mollified by the positive spring water effects of a modern spa resort at the base of the Aspromonte mountain.

Experienced walkers can try the trek from Papasidero to the Grotta del Romito, well worth it for the variety of landscapes and terrain. At one moment rocky, at another cultivated, the walk ends at a rock cavern with ancient engravings that once served as a burial site.

For a less taxing variation, another rewarding walk is from Calabria's Caserma forest to the Zanche plain. This path begins close to Guardia Piemontese, a small town whose inhabitants strangely speak the northern dialect of Piedmont. From a chestnut forest, the slope rises, rich in thyme and pinewood, to the higher plains of Mount Caloria where the mountain's water has created a dell of natural lakes and pools splashing with salamander fish.

Giuseppe Garibaldi temporarily met his match in the wild surrounds of the Calabrian mountains but today the unspoilt heights and plains offer a naturalistic challenge that is both surmountable and awesome.