Piano dei Grilli – Pista Altomontana

Piano dei Grilli is Etna Park Hiking Base Point no. 6. It can be directly reached from the village of Bronte through a lava stone cobbled road, on whose end is a gate marking the beginning of State Property land restricted to motor vehicles. On the wide area before the gate (1.156 m) is located a small barrack owned by the Municipality of Bronte.

It is a 9.8 kilometre-long, classic radial-shape trail, running uphill to the volcano’s high mountain area, meeting the track of the same name at 1,703 m in front of the M. Scavo Lodge. It takes about 3 hours to get past the 552 m of altitude difference though a landscape alternating ancient lava flows and luxuriant pinewoods. The trail segment between M. Egitto and M. Scavo Lodge runs along the “Grotte dell’Angelo” (i.e., “Angel’s Caves”), a wide and deep ravine resulting from the collapse of a cave generated by lava flows.