Celario Montecito Crateca the path of alum

Going around trails, green week of the island of Ischia
Third edition. From 18/05 to 24/05/2015.
A week full of events to disocver the oldest traditions.

Duration: about 3 hours
Difficulty: T / E
Drop in descent: 80 m
Drop in ascent: 50 m
Maximum altitude: 300 m approximately
Development of the run: about 3 km
Departure: Casamicciola Loc. "Gradoni" near Piazza Maio at 9.30am
Arrival: Crateca Farm
Run: Piazza Maio, Gradoni, Celario, fumaroles of Montecito, Crateca, Fango
Equipment: trekking shoes and clothing , water.

Description of the Run:
In this route, we’ll go along a stretch of Via Crateca, named by local farmers' Via dei Carri” (way of Wagons). Located in the place called Fango,in the municipality of Lacco Ameno (it’s an old farming village and in the past it was an important site for the development of the thermal facilities on the island), and since this was an area of natural and man-made collection of mud (also used in the thermal industry),  "Via dei Carri "connected the places of extraction of alunite (Bianchetto and Montecito) to processing areas (Square" La Pera "or" Caulare "). We’ll start from the woods of Celario, a chestnut grove in the upper part of Casamicciola and we’ll go along a muletrack, "la via dei carri", which in historical times was used to transport the alunite from the mining area to the processing area and then to the port of Casamicciola. The path is bordered by the typical dry walls (the” parracine"), obtained with the rocks of green tuff of Pizzone. We’ll go up to one of the points of extraction of alum: Monte Cito, a field of fumaroles that offers a beautiful view of the Gulf of Naples. Here there’s a characteristic flora and particularly the cyperus polystachyus (papyrus of the fumaroles). The tour ends through a path (today mostly driveway) edged with wild roses, valerian, brooms, myrtles, heathers and mastic trees and arrives in the vineyards of the farm Crateca.