Whilst looking for a
source of walking maps for the Province of Parma on the Net, I came across a pamphlet for a place called “I
Salti del Diavolo” which translated becomes “The Devil's Leaps” at Chiastre in the Baganza valley near Parma . When I saw
the photographs I knew that this would be the destination of my next hike.
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
A series of strange sculpted
two dimensional mini mountains rise in succession across the landscape for a length
of about five kilometres. A well kept series of footpaths enables you to explore
these strange rock outcrops. An afternoon is not enough to explore the whole
site.
The formation of
these rocks was caused by the erosion of softer rocks around a vertical vein of
hard conglomerate rock . On the north face of the outcrops a layer of fine
grained rock forms a separate strata.
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
This fine grained
rock was once prized by the local stone masons who provided stone decorations
for important buildings in the valley.
After leaving the
car at Chiastre I took the short but steep footpath that climbs up to Monte
Chiastre where the “Devils Tooth” is to be found . A huge stone pillar rises up like a sharks
tooth. The footpath continues through
the gap between the tooth and the outcrop
for a few metres along the wall.
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
Taking an
alternative footpath back down to Chiastre, the path then drops down to the
River Baganza along the line of the outcrops. A short section of the path allows
one to walk along the narrow crest of one of the outcrops. For me this was the
most spectacular part of the walk with the river far below the shear drop on
one side.
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
Arriving at the
river one has a good general view of the whole system. Here I decided to stop
as time as ever was running out. The
return footpath has been cleverly thought out to give you a views the outcrop from
a distance.
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
This is a fascinating
place that merits another visit to explore
the stretch of footpath between Cassio and the River Baganza that I did not have
time to do. Probably I will do the other stretch of footpath in
winter as the foliage on the trees tend to hide the outcrops in many places.
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
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| Salti del Diavolo, Chiastre,PR |
