Fanano - Cai 409 ed il sentiero perduto di Montemezzano

This is a tour that goes through two beautiful natural and forest trails, the first one very little frequented, it is very rare to meet any hikers there, and the second one almost abandoned, whose entrance is no longer marked after someone removed the wooden signpost arrow, but the woods they go through are very suggestive and lower the hiker into that dimension of respect and contact with nature that all mountain lovers know.

We start from #fanano, from the parking lot of the swimming pool and descend going to take the off-road trail that leads to the two bridges over the Ospitale stream, crossed which, in the direction of Trignano, the asphalt climb begins. When you get to Serrazzone, turn right taking the ascent that leads to Lago di Pratignano, paved until Ca' del Vento and from here on a driveway. Once past Ca' del Vento there are a few cuts that are feasible with the ebike. Reached and passed Pratignano Lake, you go over vast meadows on single track and as soon as you enter the woods you will find the Cai 409 trail marker on the right.

The trail, after a short stretch that is quite flowing, becomes narrow and technical with rough and sometimes winding passages full of rocks and roots and some passages will be done by pushing bikes. The trail continues, then. increasingly narrow stony and closed until it fords a stream, as the collapsed wooden bridge has not been rebuilt. From the ford onward the descent becomes faster though rocky and ends at La Sega.

From the Sega one descends on asphalt until crossing the Ospitale Stream. When you reach the road coming from Fanano, go up to Ospitale and continue to reach the refuge of Capanna Tassoni; you can get there by following the main road, but the track, in the locality of Cà Biagio, deviates uphill to the right. When you reach the summit, take the path to the left that leads to the Feliceto farmhouse. Past the agriturismo you pass Cà Zucchi and end the dirt road on the paved road leading to Capanna Tassoni. Here arrived, take the forest road on the right that leads to Villa Rosella (trail 445) and from here, on single track, continue with a hard climb, with roots, narrow hairpin bends, stones and steps until you reach the Colombino pass.

From Colombino you take the fast, flowing descent of Cai 425, which you follow until just before crossing the trail that climbs from Cà Baroni. At one point on the descent, the trail turns right to take the lost Montemezzano trail; if you had not seen the detour and arrived on 425 at a junction marking Montemezzano with Cai trail markers, you will need to go back about 200 m to look for the detour.

The Montemezzano trail in track is almost abandoned, so it is very "natural" and treacherous with technical passages, rocks, very steep switchbacks, counter-slopes, fords and a few hard raises. At the end, after an uphill ramp, you reach the ruins of the village of Montemezzano and skirt them and then, near a ford, join the classic Montemezzano trail, the marked one.

This section of the trail is very beautiful and at times technical, with stones and tight switchbacks. It winds along the mountainside and ends at the forestry road, from which you can take some fun variation, which rejoins the Cai 425-411 trail that you follow on the descent of the Orma del Bue to the bridge over the Fellicarolo and from there, continue to Fanano.