Sibillini Mountains


The Sibillini Mountains, or Sibylline Mountains are one of the major mountain groups of italic peninsula, part of Apennines mountain range. Most of the peaks are over ; the highest altitude is reached by Monte Vettore at.
Since 1993 the area has been part of the Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini.
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, 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

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.