the town of Saint Benedict and of the norcini inside its walls, with the basilica rebuilt after the earthquake, and above it, at over thirteen hundred metres, the Pian Grande of Castelluccio, which flowers in summer below the Vettore
Norcia lies at the bottom of a green basin in the Sibillini Mountains, in the corner of Umbria where the region touches the Marche and Lazio, still enclosed in its medieval walls. Here tradition has Saint Benedict born in 480, with his twin sister Scholastica, and here the norcini were born, the master pork butchers who gave their name to the delicatessens of half of Italy: the shops along the corso sell ham, black truffle and lentils. The earthquake of 30 October 2016 brought down almost all of the basilica of San Benedetto, of which the facade and the apse were left standing: rebuilt stone by stone, it was reopened on 31 October 2025, and in spring 2026 the Palazzo comunale, the town hall, and the theatre reopened too. The Castellina and the co-cathedral are still building sites, and you explore the town knowing it. In summer, though, people come above all to climb, half an hour of hairpin bends away, to the Pian Grande of Castelluccio, the upland plain that between June and July is covered with poppies, cornflowers and lentils in flower, with the Vettore in front and the village on its hill, still under reconstruction. With a motorhome there is no longer a municipal area with services in Norcia: there is a car park below the walls, a farm campsite three kilometres away, and the areas of Campi, of Preci, of Castelsantangelo sul Nera and of Cascia. On the peak weekends of the flowering motorhomes do not go up to Castelluccio, and you go by shuttle.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
Norcia no longer has a municipal motorhome area: there is the open space in via Circonvallazione below the walls, free and without services, and a farm campsite three kilometres away. With services you stay at Campi or at Preci, towards the Valnerina, at Castelsantangelo sul Nera, beyond Castelluccio, and at Cascia. On the Pian Grande in summer you stop above the village and in the meadow of the riding stables, but on the flowering weekends motorhomes stay down below, in the shuttle car parks.
Parcheggio di via Circonvallazione, sotto Porta Ascolana
via Circonvallazione 50, 06046 Norcia (PG)
the lit open space near the schools and the sports grounds, 150 metres from Porta Ascolana: piazza San Benedetto is five minutes away on foot. It is not signposted and it slopes, and levelling chocks are worth having. There used to be a motorhome service point, but the drain has been blocked since at least 2019, the water filling is missing, and in July 2026 travellers found only the car park; a public drinking fountain stands along the road towards the gate. In June 2026 someone slept there undisturbed, and no known sign bans overnight stays
Parcheggio sterrato di via Circonvallazione, a nord delle mura
via Circonvallazione 17, 06046 Norcia (PG)
a car park for cars and motorhomes, not signposted, outside the walls on the Porta Romana side, about ten minutes on foot from the square. On 25 August 2025 five motorhomes spent the night there. It is useful when there is no room below Porta Ascolana
Agricamping Brandimarte, nella piana di Santa Scolastica
località Misciano, strada provinciale 476, 06046 Norcia (PG)
the motorhome area of the Brandimarte family's cheese dairy, rebuilt on the plain after the earthquake and reopened in May 2018, three kilometres from the square. Toilets, hot showers, games for children and a barbecue; pets are allowed. You can buy pecorino, ricotta and Castelluccio lentils, and on production days you have breakfast with warm ricotta. You go into the centre by the main road or, on foot and by bicycle, by the inner road of the Cammino di San Benedetto, the Saint Benedict walking route. You book on the website; arrivals are from 11:00 to 13:00 and from 15:30 to 18:00, and you leave by midday. It is the only stopover near the town with water filling and emptying
The operator writes 25 euros a night for one or two people and 3 euros for each extra person, without giving the year; you pay on arrival · 348 883 9628 · formagginorcia.it/agricamping
via Castel di Campi 57, 06046 Campi di Norcia (PG)
a meadow at the edge of the sports ground of Campi, on the road to Preci and Sant'Eutizio, with a view of the village, which the Pro Loco, the village association, makes available and where the Comune has installed the services; there is no drain. It has no signs: you go down about fifty metres along the dirt track beyond the pylon and the small concrete hut, a traveller wrote in June 2026. Whether it is open in winter nobody writes
about ten, up to twelve metres
ElectricityWaterToiletsShowerWaste
Free, with a voluntary donation in the Pro Loco's box
the area of the Comune di Preci at the foot of the village, eighteen kilometres by road from Norcia, the closest one with services to the abbey of Sant'Eutizio. You stay one night only. Toilets with hot showers, a green area, facilities for disabled people, and the bus stops nearby. It is the stopover of the short version of the experience on Sant'Eutizio and the Valnerina
10 euros for 24 hours with electricity included, according to the Park's information sheet updated to September 2024; a traveller paid the same in June 2024, with the Comune's app · 0743 93781
strada provinciale 477, 06046 Castelluccio di Norcia (PG)
an open dirt space on the provincial road, above the village, six hundred metres uphill from the houses and near the restaurants, with a view over the Pian Grande and the Vettore. From Norcia it is twenty-nine kilometres, about half an hour. The water filling works, but the tap needs a three quarter inch connector; travellers find the grey water drain blocked almost every summer, in August 2026 too, and accounts disagree about the cassette emptying. In summer and at weekends it is full of cars. People have been sleeping here for years, in summer 2026 too, and nobody reports fines, but neither the Comune nor the Park writes whether the night is allowed. You are at almost fifteen hundred metres: at night it is cold even in August
strada provinciale 477, Pian Grande, 06046 Castelluccio di Norcia (PG)
the fenced meadow next to the riding stables, in the middle of the Pian Grande, three kilometres from Castelluccio, which you reach on foot among the lentil fields, without going into them. There are no motorhome services; the stables' kiosk has a toilet. Outside the fence you do not park: it is where the animals pass, and in July 2023 the Carabinieri asked people not to occupy the field. About the night the sources contradict each other: an old description says daytime parking only, but in June 2024 and in summer 2026 travellers slept there, with the horses and the donkeys around and a sky full of stars. In June there are a lot of mosquitoes
Parcheggio di Scentinelle, per le navette della fioritura
località Le Scentinelle, strada provinciale 477, 06046 Norcia (PG)
one of the two car parks the Comune di Norcia opens on the weekends closed to traffic, about twenty kilometres by road from Norcia, before Forca Canapine. In 2026 the shuttle left every half hour from 10:30 to 18:30, and the last one came back from Castelluccio at 18:45, with stops at the Pian Grande, at the turn-off for Arquata, at the Deltaplano and in the square. Bicycles are not allowed on the shuttle; small dogs travel free, medium ones with a muzzle and a ticket. The coordinates are those of the locality, and you find the exact open space on the spot
ninety places for cars and motorhomes together
services not recorded
The Comune does not publish the price of the car park and the shuttle; you pay online at marcheroma.contram.it · marcheroma.contram.it
via dei Pini, strada provinciale 477, Forca Canapine, 06046 Norcia (PG)
the open space of the Monti del Sole mountain hut, at Forca Canapine, thirteen kilometres from Castelluccio. On the flowering weekends of 2026 the shuttle left every hour from 10:00 to 18:00, and the last one came back from Castelluccio at 18:30. Outside those days it is an open space that motorhomers also point to for the night, but nobody writes it for a specific year
one hundred and ten places for cars and motorhomes together
services not recorded
On the flowering weekends the Comune does not publish the price of the car park and the shuttle; you pay online at marcheroma.contram.it · marcheroma.contram.it
Area sosta camper di Nocelleto, a Castelsantangelo sul Nera
via Valle di Corveto, località Nocelleto, 62039 Castelsantangelo sul Nera (MC)
the area of the Comune di Castelsantangelo sul Nera, in the Marche, in the Nera valley rebuilt after the earthquake, fourteen kilometres by road from Castelluccio by way of Forca di Gualdo. It is the municipal area with services closest to the Pian Grande, and it is lit; there are no toilets or showers. In 2026 the Sunday bus to Castelluccio also left from here, on the flowering days. The telephone is the Comune's switchboard
twenty-nine places, twenty-four electric sockets
ElectricityWaterGrey water
Parking is free; electricity costs 2 euros for 8 hours, with tokens, the Comune writes without giving the year · 0737 970039 · comune.castelsantangelosulnera.mc.it
Area camper comunale del piazzale Papa Leone XIII, a Cascia
piazza Papa Leone XIII, località la Molinella, 06043 Cascia (PG)
the area at the entrance to Cascia, next to the coach park, at the foot of the escalators that climb to the basilica of Santa Rita; level, with a bar under the arcades. You pay at the machine, with coins or by card. The emptying point is for cassettes only, and you cannot empty a marine toilet (July 2026); the electricity posts are old and sometimes out of order. It is quiet at night. It is the stopover of the experience on Cascia and Roccaporena
about forty, with a few electricity posts on one side only
ElectricityWaterChemical toiletWaste
The Comune does not publish a price list; people who stopped there paid 12 euros for 24 hours, with water filling and emptying, in April and July 2025 and in April and May 2026; electricity is paid separately at the post, 5 euros for 24 hours in April 2025
the dirt car park of the sports ground, level, in the middle of Roccaporena, the village of Saint Rita, a few steps from the sanctuary, the house where she was born and the staircase up to the Scoglio. The gate stays open at night too, and travellers slept there undisturbed in September 2025 and in July 2026; in the morning cars go by. Outside the gate there is a drinking fountain
Norcia inside the walls is explored on foot, going in through the gates on the ring road, and the motorhome stays outside. Castelluccio is half an hour of hairpin bends away, and on the flowering weekends you can only go up by shuttle.
You arrive from the Flaminia: at Spoleto you take the SS685 Tre Valli Umbre state road, which passes under Forca di Cerro in a tunnel and comes down into the Valnerina; you follow the Nera upstream as far as Triponzo, and from there the Corno valley takes you to Norcia. From the Marche and from the Salaria you arrive from Arquata del Tronto on the same state road, which passes under Forca Canapine: in February 2019 ANAS opened it at all hours to cars and to vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes, and whether heavier motorhomes can get through no source says
For Castelluccio from Norcia you go up the SS685 towards Forca Canapine and turn onto the SP477 provincial road, reopened in 2019: twenty-nine kilometres, about half an hour of hairpin bends, a road for motorhomes. From Visso and from Castelsantangelo sul Nera you arrive by Forca di Gualdo, from Arquata by Forca di Presta
On the flowering weekends the Comune closes the road up to cars and motorhomes: in 2026 on 20 and 21 June, 27, 28 and 29 June, 4 and 5 July and 11 and 12 July. Motorbikes, residents, those sleeping or eating in Castelluccio with a car, not with a motorhome, and coaches can pass. On the other days the road is open, but you do not park on the meadows: the Park points to a 2021 ruling on common land rights that bans parking on the Pian Grande, and outside the fence of the riding stables the motorhome stays on the asphalt. The Comune decides the 2027 dates in June, when it sees how the flowering is going
The flowering shuttles on the Norcia side left in 2026 from Scentinelle, every half hour from 10:30, and from Monti del Sole, every hour from 10:00; from Monte Prata, on the Castelsantangelo side, from 9:00 to 18:00, at 4 euros return. Tickets are sold only online, at marcheroma.contram.it, also on the spot at the last minute as long as there are seats, and they are not refunded
The car parks for the centre are the open space in via Circonvallazione below Porta Ascolana, five minutes from the square, and the dirt car park north of the walls on the Porta Romana side. We have not found a limited traffic zone written down by the Comune, but a motorhome has no reason to go inside the walls
Water: in Norcia there are plenty of drinking fountains, inside and around the walls, but the motorhome service point in via Circonvallazione does not work; filling and emptying are done at the Brandimarte farm campsite, at the area above Castelluccio, where however the drain is often blocked, or in the areas of Preci, of Castelsantangelo sul Nera and of Cascia. Diesel is at the filling stations on the ring road and in viale della Stazione
Seeing
Sights
Norcia takes half a day on foot, all inside the walls: the square with the reopened basilica, the corso of the norcinerie, the Tempietto, the gates. Outside the town there are the Marcite and Campi. The upland plain wants a whole day: you go up from Forca Canapine, cross the Pian Grande, have lunch at the Deltaplano in Castelluccio, and those who walk go to Forca di Presta for the Vettore and the Lago di Pilato. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Piazza San Benedetto
Square · free entry · 42.79235, 13.09280
piazza San Benedetto, 06046 Norcia (PG)
the heart of the town since the Middle Ages, surrounded by buildings from seven centuries: the basilica of San Benedetto, the Palazzo comunale with its medieval portico and the loggia rebuilt in 1876 after the earthquake of 1859, with the pair of lions at the staircase, the Castellina on the west side and Santa Maria Argentea to the south. In the middle stands the statue of Saint Benedict, from 1880. The Palazzo comunale reopened on 19 April 2026, after a restoration of more than seven million euros with sixty-seven seismic isolators, and the civic tower is back in its place. In the Cappella del Priore there is the reliquary of Saint Benedict from 1450, in gilded silver; whether and when it can be visited nobody writes. Since spring 2026 the square has been almost whole: the Castellina is missing. Start here
the church built, tradition says, over the house where Benedict and Scholastica were born, with its Gothic gabled facade, the doorway with the Madonna between two angels in the lunette, the statues of the two saints at the sides and the symbols of the Evangelists around the rose window. Below are the crypt with three small aisles and the remains of a Roman house. On 30 October 2016 the bell tower fell on top of it: the facade, the apse and part of the transept were left. The works, begun in December 2021, recovered the stones, catalogued them and put them back in their place, for about fifteen million euros, and the basilica was reopened for worship on 31 October 2025. During the works three fifteenth century frescoes came to light and, under the floors, the traces of the ancient house; the new ceiling is made of wooden slats. Today the parish looks after it: the Benedictine monks, who had been there since 2000, live outside the town, in the monastery of San Benedetto in Monte. On the right side is the Portico delle Misure, from 1570, the covered grain market with its stone measures. The parish does not publish the opening hours
the square fortress that closes the west side of the square, designed in 1554 by Vignola for Pope Julius III as the residence of the papal governors, and since 1967 the home of the town and diocesan museum, with a painted cross from the thirteenth century, sculptures by Giovanni Dalmata, an Annunciation in glazed terracotta attributed to Luca della Robbia and the grave goods of the ancient necropolises of the plain. It was damaged in 2016 and is still closed: in December 2025 the first funds for the restoration arrived, and in April 2026 it was the last piece missing from the square. You look at it from outside
Norcia's other cathedral, built from 1556 next to the Castellina in place of the ancient parish church, of which the Gothic doorway remains, reassembled on the side. On 30 October 2016 the roof and part of the facade collapsed, and the wooden crucifix of 1494 by Giovanni Teutonico was smashed to pieces. The works, for more than seven million euros, began in 2024: in October 2026 it is a building site, and you see it from outside. There is no reopening date. One of the bells, taken down from the unsafe bell tower, stands on a wooden frame in the square
the street that runs down from the square to Porta Romana, with the shops of cured meats and truffles, the hams hanging up, the wild boar heads over the doors. The word comes from here: in central Italy "norcineria" means a pork butcher's and delicatessen, because the norcini who emigrated to Rome opened their shops there. You can buy Prosciutto di Norcia, Castelluccio lentils, pecorino and black truffle; in summer the truffle is the scorzone, the summer one. It is the evening walk
vicolo del Tempietto, angolo via Umberto I, 06046 Norcia (PG)
a small square stone shrine, signed and dated 1354 by Vanni della Tuccia in an inscription that runs all the way round, with bas-reliefs of animals, figures, plants and symbolic signs, and inside a fourteenth century fresco of the Madonna and saints, blackened by the smoke of the lamps. It was perhaps a small sanctuary born after the plague of the mid fourteenth century. It is the best preserved monument in Norcia: you look at it from the street, on a walk through the streets inside the walls
the medieval circuit, strengthened by the popes in the Renaissance, still runs almost whole around the centre, and in 2016 some stretches of it collapsed. Porta Romana, at the end of the corso, is medieval but has its nineteenth century shape, with the medallions of Ufens and of Quintus Sertorius, the Roman general born here, according to Wikipedia. On the other side is Porta Ascolana, the closest to the motorhome car park. The walk round the walls takes less than an hour
meadows flooded all year round with water from the springs, spread through a system of channels, which does not freeze in winter and lets the grass grow: they gave seven cuts of hay a year, against the four or five of an ordinary meadow. Tradition credits the Benedictine monks with inventing them; today they are a nature area. In the Cecconi mill there has been, since 2005, the small Museo dei mulini e delle marcite, the museum of the mills and the water meadows, with a millstone that still works: the opening hours are asked for by phone. In summer, with the green of the water, it is the flat walk near the town
a medieval village at seven hundred metres, on the road to Preci, facing the Sibillini range, where lentils and spelt are grown. Outside the village, next to the cemetery, stood the parish church of San Salvatore, from 1115, with a facade with two doorways and two rose windows and frescoes inside: it collapsed completely in the shocks of October 2016, and in 2026 the first funds to rebuild it arrived. In the village Santa Maria delle Grazie and the portico of Sant'Andrea collapsed too. It is a visit to make knowing that you are going to see a wound. In the village there is the Pro Loco's motorhome stopover, and the experience on Sant'Eutizio starts from here
the pass at 1,541 metres on the border between Umbria, the Marche and Lazio, the southern gateway to the upland plain, from which you go down to the Pian Grande. The name comes from the hemp, canapa, that was grown in the surrounding fields. It is a balcony over the Pian Grande on one side and over the face of the Vettore on the other; the European long-distance path E1 passes through, and in summer it is the place for hang-gliding and paragliding, for horse rides and for starry skies. On the flowering weekends the shuttle car parks are here
strada provinciale 477, Pian Grande, 06046 Castelluccio di Norcia (PG)
the upland plain at about 1,350 metres, the bed of an ancient lake: the Pian Grande, the Pian Piccolo and the Pian Perduto, which is already in the Marche, about fifteen square kilometres in all. Along the bottom runs the fosso dei Mergani, which looks like a stream and is a doline that ends in a sinkhole. La Fiorita, the flowering, runs more or less from the end of May to mid July, with no fixed date because it depends on the snow, the rain and the heat, and the colours change from week to week: the red of the poppies, the blue of the cornflowers, the white of the daisies, the yellow of the wild mustard, and in between the fields of lentils in flower. In 2026, with the June drought, the poppies dominated. The fields are cultivated: you look at them from the roads and the paths, without going into them. Come on weekdays, early in the morning or in the evening, when the light is low and there are few cars; the Park also organises guided walks
on the side of the mountain, west of the Pian Grande, a patch of conifers draws the shape of Italy: it was planted in 1961, for the centenary of Unification, according to Wikipedia. You see it well from the road that crosses the plain and from the village; close up the drawing is lost
the castle that Norcia built on the hill to defend the border pastures, at 1,452 metres, with the Vettore opposite; in 2011 one hundred and twenty people lived there. On 30 October 2016 it was almost razed to the ground: the church of Santa Maria Assunta and the bell tower collapsed, and the ground around it sank by about seventy centimetres. The reconstruction is a building site: the works started in May 2024, and the village will be rebuilt on a slab with seismic isolators, one hundred and forty-four houses and the church, with completion expected at the end of 2027. In October 2026 the old village cannot be visited: you go up as far as you can, look at the plain from above, and eat down at the Deltaplano. There are paragliding schools, because the plain has no pylons. On 20 July the festa della Cona is held, which remembers the battle of the Pian Perduto between Norcia and Visso in 1522
Point of interest · free entry · 42.82860, 13.21410
area ristoranti Il Deltaplano, Castelluccio, 06046 Norcia (PG)
the earthquake-proof building put up after the earthquake below the village, along the road that climbs from the Pian Grande, where the restaurants and shops of Castelluccio have moved: about ten places among osterie, agriturismi, that is farm restaurants, and a bar. It is the place for lunch with lentils, and for the shops where you buy them with pecorino and cured meats. Nobody writes the opening hours of the individual places: in summer there is a queue at lunchtime, and at weekends it is best to arrive early
Forca di Presta, Monte Vettore and the Lago di Pilato
Trail · free entry · 42.78940, 13.25830
Forca di Presta, 63096 Arquata del Tronto (AP)
the pass at 1,550 metres on the border between Umbria and the Marche, at the foot of the face of the Vettore, from which the paths start for the summit, for the Cima del Redentore and for the Lago di Pilato, Pilate's Lake; there is the Alpini mountain hut. Monte Vettore, 2,476 metres, is the highest peak of the Sibillini, and the Cima del Redentore, 2,448, the highest in Umbria. From Forca di Presta you climb on path 101: about ten kilometres there and back, three hours up and two down, a demanding hike. For the Lago di Pilato, at 1,941 metres in a glacial cirque below the Pizzo del Diavolo, you climb as far as the Zilioli refuge, a CAI bivouac hut, and go down into the valley of the lake, which is already in the Marche. Marchesoni's fairy shrimp lives there and nowhere else, a red shrimp one centimetre long: it is forbidden to wet even your hands and feet, you stay at least five metres from the shore, dogs do not drink, and you do not leave the marked paths. In dry years the lake becomes two pools. At the lake and at the summit there is no water and nothing to eat: you set off early in the morning, well equipped
Norcia's year begins with black truffle, at the end of winter, and in March it celebrates Saint Benedict, born here and patron saint of Europe. In May the valley goes to Cascia for Saint Rita, and between the end of May and the beginning of June the old railway fills with bicycles; in summer the draw is the flowering of Castelluccio, which has no set day. The Comune does not publish a calendar: the dates come from the organisers, often only a few weeks before.
Next: Feast of Saint Rita in Cascia · 21-22 May
21-22May
Feast of Saint Rita in Cascia
21 and 22 May
the feast that brings pilgrims from all over the world to Cascia. From 12 to 20 May the novena in the basilica, and on the Sunday before the feast the procession of the Stendardo, the banner. On the evening of the 21st the torch of Forgiveness and Peace arrives on the churchyard and lights the tripod, then the Transito, which remembers the death of the saint. On the 22nd the procession with the statue starts from Roccaporena, Rita's village, with the historical procession in costume that tells her life; in the basilica the Pontifical Mass and, at the end, the blessing of the roses, which the pilgrims raise all together and take home. On those two days Cascia is full: it is better to leave the motorhome in Norcia, or to arrive on the 20th. Cascia and Roccaporena are an experience on this page
30May
La SpoletoNorcia in MTB
the last Sunday in May or 2 June
the non-competitive ride on the old Spoleto-Norcia railway, with its tunnels and viaducts: in thirteen editions more than twenty-eight thousand participants from all over Europe. Four routes, from the Family, fourteen kilometres and suitable for children, to the Hard, seventy-five kilometres with 2,200 metres of climbing, with the start and the final refreshment point in piazza Garibaldi in Spoleto. In 2026 it was on 2 June, with the start at 9:00. That day thousands of bicycles pass along the railway: those who want to ride it calmly choose another day, those who want the party sign up for the Family. The railway is an experience on this page
This year's dates are not out yet
Nero Norcia, the black truffle fair
two weekends between the end of February and the beginning of March
Norcia's biggest festival, the national fair of the black winter truffle and of the produce of the Valnerina: more than a hundred producers of truffles, cured meats, cheeses and pulses with stalls in the streets of the centre, and around them cooking shows, truffle hunting, concerts in piazza San Benedetto and demonstrations of pork butchery. In 2026 it was the sixty-second edition, from 20 to 22 February and from 27 February to 1 March. On Saturday and Sunday the town fills up: those arriving by motorhome have the Friday to settle in calmly, and at the end of February, at six hundred metres, you sleep with the heating on
Celebrazioni Benedettine, the feast of Saint Benedict
20 and 21 March
the feast of the patron saint, and of Saint Benedict patron of Europe. Every year the torch "Pro Pace et Europa Una" is lit in a European or world capital and returns to Norcia on the evening of 20 March, after the stages of Subiaco and Cassino, carried by runners from the three Benedictine towns. On the 21st in the morning the historical procession parades, with the representatives of the Guaite and the Castelli in costume with their banners, then in the square the solemn mass with the saint's reliquary and the procession through the streets of the town. When 21 March falls in Holy Week the feast is moved: in 2016 it was on 4 and 5 April, and in 2027 21 March is Palm Sunday: the Comune will announce the days
Ultra Trail della Lenticchia in Campi
a Sunday in May
the mountain race of the Monti Sibillini Park, starting from Campi, on the road to Preci. In 2026 it was the sixth edition, on Sunday 10 May
Cascia saffron fair
the All Saints' long weekend
the fair of the saffron grown on the Cascia upland, in the old town: producers' stalls, tastings, cooking shows, workshops and visits to the fields, when at the end of October the purple crocus flowers are picked at dawn. In 2025 it was the twenty-fourth edition, from 31 October to 2 November
Remember
Useful tips
On the flowering weekends the motorhome does not go up to Castelluccio: you leave it at the car parks of Scentinelle or Monti del Sole, or at Monte Prata on the Marche side, and go by shuttle, with the ticket bought online. Better still, go up on a weekday, early in the morning
The fields of the Pian Grande are cultivated: the lentils in flower are someone's harvest, and you photograph them from the road and the paths, without going in. You do not park on the meadows
About the night at Castelluccio and on the Pian Grande neither the Comune nor the Park writes anything: travellers sleep there, but before doing so ask the Polizia Locale of Norcia, on 0743 828711, or the Park, on 0737 961014. The nearest municipal area, where you can sleep without any doubt, is the one at Castelsantangelo sul Nera
Filling and emptying cannot be done in the town: go to the Brandimarte farm campsite, to Preci, to Cascia or to Castelsantangelo sul Nera
The basilica has reopened, the Castellina and Santa Maria Argentea have not, and Castelluccio is a building site: you visit the town knowing it, and the building sites are part of what you see
For the Vettore and the Lago di Pilato set off early, with water and a jacket: above two thousand metres in summer the thunderstorms come in the afternoon, and at the lake you stop well away from the shore
In the recipe the source does not give the quantities of sage, oil, salt, pepper and water, which you adjust by keeping it above the lentils. The photograph is a soup of small lentils, but not from Castelluccio
Norcia · part two
and then?
What to do, what to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Experiences from here
What we did starting from here, ordered by driving time.
Norcia is the town of pork and truffle, Castelluccio that of lentils. Prosciutto di Norcia PGI is made above five hundred metres in the municipalities of Norcia, Cascia, Preci, Poggiodomo and Monteleone di Spoleto, pear-shaped, and is aged for at least twelve months. The black winter truffle, the tartufo nero pregiato, is also called the black truffle of Norcia, and in summer the shops have the scorzone. The lentil of Castelluccio di Norcia is PGI: it is sown when the snow melts, flowers between May and July, and it is what colours the Pian Grande; it has a thin skin and is cooked without soaking. The pecorino of the Valnerina, fresh or aged for up to a year, also with truffle, is a traditional product, and the best is the one made in May and June. In a motorhome the soup is made in a single pot, with lentils bought at the Deltaplano.
Castelluccio on its hill above the poppies and cornflowers of the Pian Grande, in July 2018Photo: Enrico Strocchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0Norcia from above, enclosed in its walls in front of the Sibillini Mountains, in September 2020Photo: Rocco1990, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the statue of Saint Benedict in the middle of piazza San Benedetto, in 2019Photo: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0the Palazzo comunale with its portico, the staircase and the civic tower, reopened in 2026Photo: Simo.Albo80, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the facade of the basilica of San Benedetto in August 2026, after the reconstructionPhoto: Simo.Albo80, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Gothic doorway of the basilica with the statues of Benedict and Scholastica, in 2015, before the earthquakePhoto: Livioandronico2013, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the rose window of the basilica among the symbols of the Evangelists, in 2015, before the earthquakePhoto: Livioandronico2013, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Castellina in piazza San Benedetto in 2019, closed after the 2016 earthquakePhoto: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0cured meats and a wild boar's head in the window of a norcineria, in 2013Photo: Mattis, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0via Umberto I, one of the streets inside the walls, in 2019Photo: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0a wrought iron corner balcony in via Umberto I, in 2019Photo: Sailko, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0Porta Romana at the end of the street, in August 2026Photo: Simo.Albo80, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Campi in November 2016, with the portico and the facade of the church of Sant'Andrea collapsedPhoto: Silvio sorcini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the slope towards Norcia from the Forca Canapine pass, in OctoberPhoto: Infinitispazi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0the Pian Grande in flower seen from above, in July 2018Photo: Nathill2512, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a field of poppies on the Pian Grande with low clouds on the mountains, in June 2024Photo: Repuli, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0a field of cornflowers in flower on the Piani di Castelluccio, in July 2018Photo: Maddy16869, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the blue, red and yellow of the flowering on the Pian Perduto, in July 2015Photo: Marcobranchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the fields of lentils in flower and the poppies on the Piani di Castelluccio, in June 2021Photo: JacquiDebono, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a bee on a cornflower during the flowering of the Piani di CastelluccioPhoto: Dino Michelini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0the wood in the shape of Italy above a field of poppies, in July 2020Photo: TeKappa, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the lentil fields of the Pian Grande with Castelluccio on its hill, in June 2022Photo: Enric, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Castelluccio in June 2022, with the gap left by the earthquake among the housesPhoto: Enric, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the houses of Castelluccio, the stalls and the crane of the reconstruction, in June 2022Photo: Enric, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0horses grazing on the Pian Grande below the hills, in May 2011Photo: ildirettore, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0Monte Vettore above the Pian Grande, seen from the Castelluccio roadPhoto: Enric, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the face of the Vettore with the Cordone fault, in June 2022Photo: Enric, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Monte Vettore in the evening light, above the meadows of CastelluccioPhoto: Nathill2512, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Lago di Pilato in its glacial cirque below the peaks of the Vettore, in July 2018Photo: Enrico Strocchi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0the two pools of the Lago di Pilato seen from Cima del Lago, in August 2014Photo: Marcosibillini97, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
