Vittorio Marino · Nature guide · Basilicata
A snowshoe hike to the pass that opens onto the Piani del Pollino,
among beech woods, loricate pines and wide white spaces.
We climb on snowshoes among bare beeches and muffled silence, at a steady pace.
The pass between Serra del Prete and Monte Pollino: a natural gateway opening onto the Piani del Pollino, below the highest peaks of the park.
The symbol of the Pollino: pines with bark split into plates like armour, able to live over a thousand years on bare rock.
Wide snowy spaces with peaks all around. Then the long way back, more downhill than up.
The loricate pine takes its name from the lorica, the armour of Roman legionaries: its bark splits into plates that protect it from frost and wind. In Pollino National Park, the largest in Italy, it grows on ridges and rocks where no other tree can hold on.
In winter, under the snow, everything slows down. The right time to walk in silence and meet them up close.
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