Historical contextualisation

The “Battle of Pietralunga” refers to the armed conflict of 9 and 10 July 1944 between a German battalion, the Indian vanguard of the British army and the partisans of the “San Faustino” and “Garibaldi Pesaro” brigades.

The clash, which ended in favour of the German troops, who retook Pietralunga after almost a month of “free territory”, led to the temporary flight of the civilian population, which followed the troops’ advance towards Carpini. And it ended with the balance of 8 partisans killed and 1 civilian, all of them in German hands, and at least 3 victims in the German army.

On 8 July, a division of the 10th Indian Division finally made contact with the partisans of the “San Faustino” proletarian shock brigade in Pietralunga. On the same day, a German somatic battalion from Castelfranco took up position on the heights to the east of the town. The “V Garibaldi Pesaro” also tried to reach the village. After the attack, which was repulsed during the night, the German troops bombarded the town with light artillery on the morning of the 9th. While the ‘Pesaro’ fought on Monte delle Croci, the allied troops and the civilian population retreated towards Montone, protected by the action of the San Faustino Brigade.

Naturalistic and environmental context

The route begins in the historic quarter and climbs up the hill of Candeleto, following the development of the town to the south.

At Candeleto, the route passes through the Natural Oasis, a protected area of about 1,000 hectares between the Carpina and Carpinella streams. In the area of Monte La Croce there are vast forests of black pine, with the presence of fir and Scots pine, the result of reforestation in the last century.

On the slopes of the hill, the woods are deciduous: downy oak, maple, hornbeam, rowan, cherry and ash. The path also crosses the typical ravine environment, with the formation of gallery forests and the presence of riparian trees.

Route description

This route, dedicated to Pietralunga, can be walked as a whole or divided into two sections, which can also be reached by bicycle or car: the first section, of a little over 1 km, around the walls of the town, with a strong historical flavour; the second section, of about 6 km, in the Candeleto and Monte Croce areas.

The following is a complete description of the route, with possible detours to complete smaller loops.

From Piazza Fiorucci, go down into the medieval village (Corso Giacomo Matteotti) and follow the signs for Via di Francesco (VdF) towards La Verna. After a short flight of steps, leave the VdF by turning left (0.2km) until you reach the ‘Lapide di Germano Cancellieri’ (0.4km). For the short loop: from here go straight on to the roundabout, turn left and follow the SdM signs again.

From the tombstone, cross the road and turn right to find the VdF signs, which we follow for about 2.7km. This is an asphalt road that climbs between large oak trees until it reaches the crossroads for Le Gorghe (1.6km), where it turns left towards Candeleto.

This section, which can be seen as a link between the two half-loops, can also be done by bike or car, and then the second loop can be done on foot through the woods, thus considerably reducing the length, height difference and level of effort.

Leave the VdF (2 km) and turn left into Via dei Tigli. After about 500 metres, carry straight on along the CAI 114, which leads to a dirt road.
A little further on (4.1km), at a crossroads, leave the main cart track and take the dirt road that descends to the right. Continue down through the thick pine forest, passing the ruins of Muncigiangi, until you reach loc. Picciati (6.6), where you turn right. After about 20 metres, you begin to climb again, keeping to the left and following the signs for the CAI path 114a. As you climb, the coniferous woods give way to mixed deciduous woods dominated by black hornbeam and turkey oak. You then come to a main dirt road (7.6km), which you leave shortly afterwards (8.5km) to take a forest track on the right.
At the next forks, keep first to the left and then to the right, and then at the crossroads of Monte Croce (9.1 km) take the track to the right into the woods, which a little further on, at the antennae, turns right again descending into the woods (blue-white signs of the Sentiero Natura and red-white signs of the SdM). Reaching the tarmac road at Candeleto (9.9 km), descend following the signs of the trail until reaching the main road SP 201 (11.4 km), then turn left. At the roundabout (11.9 km) turn right, then following the signs cross the road and, via the visible steps, reach the Monumento al Partigiano Umbro (Umbrian Partisan Monument) (12.5 km), just below the square from which you started out