Sibillini Mountains

Lentil and poppy blooming on Piani di Castelluccio.

A summer view of the Monti Sibillini.

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).

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[]

• crested porcupine
• eurasian eagle owl
• golden eagle
• peregrine falcon
• roe deer
• viper
• wildcat
• wolf

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[]

• Geography of Italy

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.

Coordinates: 42°49′26″N 13°16′32″E / 42.82389°N 13.27556°E / 42.82389; 13.27556