A walk that winds through forests along ancient communication routes.
It starts from Case San Salvatore, along Provincial Road 106, known as the Baucca road, in the direction of Città di Castello. We turn right after 800 metres and arrive after about one kilometre at ‘La Cerqua’, the starting point of the itinerary (645 metres).
Park the car and take the road uphill, leaving the farmhouses to the right. Once past the first dwelling, you move onto a ridge: on the horizon is Mount Nerone, recognisable by the antennas on the summit, and on the other side is the Carpina valley.
You pass the ruins of an old house, near an aqueduct cistern; the road here descends slightly and then immediately rises again. A fenced-in planting of truffle plants appears on the right.
Once past Caiburroni, at the fork that presents itself, take the road to the left that goes uphill: immediately to the right is San Felice, a perilous little country church.
From the crossroads, the route continues on the path that opens out to the left among downy oaks and gorse. As it climbs, the stone underfoot becomes more regular until it forms a stupendous paved road from Roman times, which in ancient times linked the site of Forum Iulii Concupiense, in the Carpina valley, to the Flaminia consular road.
When the road surface returns to beaten earth, we come to a crossroads, on the left just above the tip of Monte Macinare, site of a pre-Roman fortified settlement. Past a votive shrine, the road climbs in the shade of a thick pine forest. It is advisable to momentarily leave the main road and climb to the left to reach the extremely scenic peak of Monte Castellaccio (839 m), a place-name that marks the location of the previously ruined and now disappeared castle of Castelfranco.
After returning to the main path, a few steps lead to the traffic-free provincial road to Apecchio. Keeping to the left, one’s gaze rests on the newly formed Carpina valley.
The isolated village of Castelfranco is a few hundred metres further on, and the church we find here is a 16th-century structure dedicated to the Madonna delle Grazie.
The itinerary continues along a dirt road that leaves the church on the right; the slope of Monte Castellaccio, hitherto hidden from our eyes, is revealed, revealing a dense beech forest; at the fork, keep to the left, following the course of the Carpina springs.
The road skirts the Pian del Pozzo farm and further on, it rejoins another road coming from above; proceeding to the left, one crosses the stream via a bridge. At this point, you pass Cailuca, then turn left just before Casa Maccheroni, the site of an old mill, cross the stream again over a bridge and, once you reach the valley floor, climb sharply up the other side.
At the next fork in the road, at Colprejano (609 m), turn right. Here, embedded underground, are the remains of a rustic villa from Roman times with baths: traces of a mosaic floor and a travertine column trunk remain.
Further on you reach the place where you left your car.