Overview of the itinerary
Sentiero Italia runs the length of the island’s eastern side, covering its most important mountains, in 28 stages. Starting from the north: it flanks the Monte Limbara massif, crosses the limestones of Mont’Albo and Tuttavista, skirting the Gulf of Orosei, it crosses the Supramonte, Gennargentu and the Tacchi of Ogliastra and reaches Perdasdefogu. Further south, it passes through Armungia and the Gerrei sub-region. Lastly, it touches on the villages of Burcei and San Gregorio, continuing on the Sette Fratelli massif to the old prisons of Castiadas.
General information on Sentiero Italia (Grand Italian Trail)
Sentiero Italia, or Grand Italian Trail, as also explained on the official website, is a walking route that crosses the whole of Italy, using mainly but not exclusively “registered trails”.
In particular, in Sardinia, not all the stages of the Sentiero Italia of CAI (Italian Alpine Club) are made of trails already included in the registry of the Sardinia Trail Network (RES), either because they have not yet been tested and approved or simply because they cannot be registered as they do not meet the requirements. However, as a whole, the Sentiero Italia is the single longest walking route currently crossing Sardinia from the north (S. Teresa Gallura, stage Z 1) to the south (Castiadas, end of stage Z 28), touching on the most fascinating mountain areas in central-eastern Sardinia: the plateau of Buddusò, Tepilora, the Cedrino river valley, the ancient forests of Montes, Perda Liana and the regional forest of Montarbu, Monte Genis, and lastly the regional forest of Settefratelli (among the many crossed by the various stages of this long hiking itinerary).
Information on this stage of the trail
The starting point is the village of Monti, near the Vermentino winery. After walking a little less than 2 km on a blacktop road, used by local traffic, a 2.3 km stretch on a livestock trail begins. From here the route is on a path, for about 1 km, to the Sos Sambinzos locality (in this stretch there are two fords on the rio Crasta), from where the trail will take you back to a livestock trail that will lead you, through private land (with stiles to pass over the boundary wall) to the Monte Olia regional forest. The forest is crossed by several tracks, which are used by the Forest Rangers also for wildfire control. In this stretch, you can deviate slightly from the route to stop at the ‘Pedra Bianca’ spring and the nearby hut, fairly comfortable and freely accessible, used by the staff of Fo.Re.S.T.A.S.
After retracing your steps back from the spring, to the main trail, continue on a dirt road towards the ford on the Seleme river. Along its course, the river forms beautiful natural pools known as ‘Salomone’, some of which are near the ford.
After crossing the river, the route climbs up a trail that follows a firebreak, and then continues on a dirt road to the ‘Bolostiu’ forest ranger station. If the Seleme river is impassable, you must head, within the regional forest, towards the forest ranger station of Monte Olia, bordering road SS 389, which connects Monti with Alà dei Sardi, and return to the path from the blacktop road heading to the village of Badde Suelzu.
Notes
The ford across the Seleme river can be challenging (it may be impassable in the winter months but you can take an alternative route via SS 389).
At the Bolostiu stop point there is a station of the Fo.Re.S.T.A.S. Regional Agency.. At present, accommodation is not available but hikers can pitch their tent.
