Rocca di Perti - Summit

Reaching the Cross on the top of Rocca di Perti is an easy task, thanks to the Finale Ligure CAI which has included this landmark in the "Via del purchin" trail. The start is from Perti Alto Piazzetta (the square), near the war memorials which include the one dedicated to two partisans who got shot right there in 1944 at the age of 23 and 18. The signpost is unmistakable: a red and white flag marked “VP”.

Not too long into your hike you will come across a quaint portico and a beautiful specimen of Campanula Isophylla will be hanging from it. This local beauty loves to colonize all the cracks and limestone walls. You can see it in summer with its unmistakable purple blue flowers.

Keep walking slightly uphill and you will pass the Oratorio, S. Eusebio Church, and some cypress trees. Immediately after, on your right-hand side, you will find a track that steeply climbs up: ignore that (that’s the Fossati trail). The holm oak wood hosts downy oaks, ash trees, and black hornbeams, and is interspersed with dry containment stone walls that frame the way.

Keep walking uphill, parts of the walk will be a little steep. After about 300 m, ignore both detours on your left and a little further on your right that will take you to the nearby crags. Go straight ahead climbing some steps that have been carved into the rocks in ancient times. Another steep stretch of the trail takes you closer to the Castel Gavone quarry, where the “Pietra del Finale” has been extracted for centuries. This is a very characteristic type of limestone whose sediments house shells, fish, and coral fragments.

Now cross the large square, ignore the dirt road on your left and go towards the base of the crags. The trail continues among garrigue’s low shrubs which resemble the Mediterranean scrub (mastic, thyme, savory, cistus, and juniper). Here the limestone becomes a lovely pink shade, and you reach a scenic viewpoint just before going deep into the holm oak forest, the climax of the “Finalese” vegetation. Walk past the turnoff on your right that takes you to “Grotta del Mulo” and San Benedetto Church.

You should now be at Piaggia delle Anime, an area that hides the low stone-walls belonging to a village carrying the same name that used to be a protohistoric settlement during the Iron Age, as well as important karstic erosions of areas, called “Formaggette" and "Acropolis" that are located near a small ancient quarry.

Pass the intersection with the trail marked by three red dots and follow it taking a left. You will thus reach Rocca di Perti summit’s cross, Bric della Croce.