Celso is among the fractions of Pollica whose charm is characterized by an aura of history and mystery and to testify to this are the numerous folk tales handed down orally which even today, with a little luck,

it is possible to listen from one of the few Celsitans left in town. Walking along the bridge that leads to the historic square named after Matteo Mazziotti, an important historical and political figure of the Italian Risorgimento, one can admire the timeless elegance of the homonymous building, declared national monument. From here it’s possible to continue to the public fountain, to descend along Via Velino, an ancient road that connected the town to Velia, where it is rumored that fairies and munacielli (folkoristic spirits) lived, and even witches from the north, who apparently stopped at the "Fountain of the Valley” for their sabbaths. And it is here, at Valle, where the inhabited village ends, that the ancient municipal path starts, surrounded by brambles of roses and wild blackberries. Descending further and further down through a dirt mule track, which soon becomes a succession of paved steps, accompanied by laborious dry-stone walls resisting time, under the thick shade of strawberry trees and oaks.Arriving down, on the Versante del Fico of Mortelle’s creek, among acanthus flowers and giant butterbur leaves, an old bridge from the early 1920s stands out among the dense vegetation. Once the bridge is crossed, the ascent begins on the opposite side of the impluvium, through a terraced undergrowth that gradually thins out among centuries-old olive groves and silent ruins and rejoins a wide mule track leading back to Celso, concluding the path on the panoramic churchyard of Chiesa dell’Assunta in a temporal passage between pagan and sacred beliefs.

Technical Details:

Starting point: 9.00AM from the mother church of Celso.

Difficulty: T (easy/medium)

Length: about 9km

Duration: about 7 hours

Max Altitude: 425m a.s.l.. 

Recommended Equipment: technical trekking shoes required(the use of any other kind of shoes will preclude participation for safety reasons), trekking poles, comfortable layered clothing, windproof jacket/vest, hat/sunglasses and spare clothing to take with you or to keep in the car.