Games and sports, in the green heart of Liguria region: A day Crocefieschi, Italy

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A caravan of salt loads leaving behind the endless blue of the Ligurian Sea and walks slowly to a winding trail through the rugged hills of the Apennines. After many days will come in the Po Valley from which, once sold salt and salted fish, on the same route back to the sea, with their carts full of wool, purchased in Lombardy.
Those who arrived by the parties of today Crocefieschi few hundred years ago, easily met the salt merchants, who often stopped in their locality Croce, about 800 feet high, became a fief of the Fieschi in the middle of the thirteenth century.
For a relaxing day we choose to follow the traces of these merchants, reaching Crocefieschi after a few kilometers from the highway curves of Busalla. A sign informs us of us in Antola Natural Park, one of the most scenic areas of the Ligurian hinterland. A sort of earthly paradise for hikers who can afford less than 270 km of hiking trails, not to mention the opportunity to canoe trips along the rivers or horse trekking along the trails.
While we, a group of two families with children in tow we settle for a light walk through the colorful historic center, will soon discover that Crocefieschi are also more adventurous hikers get their teeth. Just venture out on the rocks of Reopasso, which certainly does not betray the expectations suggested by their name, as even the highest peak, known in the Ligurian Carrega do Diao, ie the Devil's Chair.
Giving up when the adrenaline challenges, we begin to have fun taking pictures with cute goats grazing in a garden, and we walk along the panoramic road through the country. From anywhere you look around, you see the beautiful mountain ranges and houses surrounded by green and blue in an enchanted landscape.
Reached the center, visit the sixteenth-century parish church of Santa Croce which houses two statues inside the school by Anton Maria Maragliano and seventeenth-century paintings. The Oratory of St. John the Baptist, built in the late sixteenth century, a fresco depicting the baptism of Jesus in the center we also visit the Paleontological Museum, and continue along the narrow streets climb to the top, where we reach the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Guard , built in 1854 as a result of the vow made by the people to avert an epidemic of cholera.
In the nearby town of Vobbia, until 1903 Crocefieschi fraction, is the Castello della Pietra, of the thirteenth century, whose ruins still bear witness to the strategic importance that the country had over the centuries.
After this walk, you need a place to relax and let the children play before dinner: the Ca Mei do, or the House of Melo. This is a green oasis, where good food is accompanied by the opportunity to spend time in the outdoors, including many sports and entertainment. The children of our group, taking advantage of summer temperatures still, plunge into the pool, while some of the great test themselves with the "sweater": This is a golf course ideal for beginners and curious, 6 holes, of which two or three rather difficult because the slope. But there is also an athletic course of 13 stations, with signs that indicate the bodyweight exercises, as well as table tennis, soccer, swing or slide: "We can come not only to eat, but also have a nice day, "explains Mrs. Gianna who runs the restaurant with her husband Aldo. "This was an old farmhouse, which had existed for two hundred years, but was abandoned for a decade. We renovated and expanded us, we opened in March 2003, "tell us.
We start a meal with the flavors of homemade appetizers and assorted cold cuts mixed, continuing with the former as the maltagliati tasty buckwheat cream cheese and nuts, pesto and ravioli trofie meat to "touch". Some of us do not stand up to the excellent focaccia with cheese type Recco, prepared in a wood oven, with a wood core. "Our menu changes a couple of times a month, depending on the season, and aside from the wine and ice cream, everything else, including bread, we prepare it at home," explains Mrs. Gianna. When choosing the second we divide among the strips of veal with mushrooms and rocket, the Chianina steak with green pepper and Ligurian rabbit.
Our day ends with the Crocefieschi squisti homemade desserts including the Catalan cream, the chocolate flan and baked cantuccini with Vin Santo, and the decision to come back here soon with the boots of hikers to discover the face of adventure of this wonderful place.

Bertha Frances

FOR INFORMATION:
www.comune.Crocefieschi.ge.it
www.parcoantola.it
Cà do Mei – Buona cucina e tempo libero
www.cadomei.com
Via Camarza, 27 Crocefieschi (GE)
Tel.: 010/931224