Sibillini Mountains

The Sibillini Mountains, or Sibylline Mountains (Italian: Monti Sibillini) are one of the major mountain groups of italic peninsula, part of Apennines mountain range. Most of the peaks are over 2,000 m (6,600 ft); the highest altitude is reached by Monte Vettore at 2,476 m (8,123 ft).

Lentil and poppy blooming on Piani di Castelluccio.
A summer view of the Monti Sibillini.

Since 1993 the area has been part of the Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini (Sibillini Mountains National Park).

The current morphology, largely dominated by U-shaped valleys and glacial depressions, is due to the action of glaciers in the Quaternary period.

Legend says that in a cave (today named the Sibyl cave), a necromancer who survived Christian persecutions against paganism at later Roman age, housed a male prophet who rarely revealed secrets of the future. Necromancers and knights, came from across Europe, after exhausting journeys trying to seize an oracle of Sybil.

Wildlife and vegetation

The small Lago di Pilato within a deep u-shaped valley below Monte Vettore, is home to a crustacean endemic of this location, the Chirocephalus marchesonii.

The area contains stands of beech scattered amongst open subalpine grasslands and meadows maintained by the grazing of sheep.

See also

Sources
  • Gentili, Bernardino (April 2002). "Note di Geomorfologia del Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini". Collana dei Quaderni scientifico-divulgativi del Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini. Ancona: Aniballi Grafiche.

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