Trails of tuff, chestnut trees and stars

Walk slowly on a dormant volcano, descend old roads cut into the tuff and follow the stages of the Via Francigena del Sud towards the Apulian ports. Casale is your crossroads.

Trekking · Loop

Cappelle → Valogno

Twelve kilometres in a loop along old paths carved by water over millennia, enclosed between walls of yellow tuff up to 30 metres high. You cross old chestnut woods and brush the edge of dormant volcanic calderas. On days when the tramontana wind blows, the view stretches from Monte Massico to the Domitian coast and on to the Gulf of Gaeta.

Length
12 km
Type
Loop
Elevation
Moderate
Grade
E (hikers)

Pilgrimage

Via Francigena del Sud

Casale di Carinola has long been touched by the routes of the Via Francigena del Sud, which from the sacred places of central Italy leads to the embarkation ports of Apulia for the Holy Land and to the sanctuary of Saint Michael on the Gargano.

Today's pilgrims and cyclists find here an ancient hospitality infrastructure, the same one that, in AD 61, fed and refreshed the Apostle Paul with wine and lupin beans. Walking through Casale literally means following footprints two thousand years old.

CAI trails through the tuff banks of the Ager Falernus

Local trails

CAI trails in the Ager Falernus

A short walk from the centre, paths marked by the Italian Alpine Club (CAI) connect Sessa Aurunca to Carinola through striking tuff banks, old monasteries and quiet clearings. An easy network of low-altitude trails for slow travellers who want to explore the Mediterranean scrub on foot.

Practical info

For GPX files, printable maps and updated trail conditions, get in touch through the contact page: we'll share the latest resources from local guides and the CAI section.