MONTE CERVELLINO – 1493 m
Sector: Tuscan-Emilian Apennines
Group: Crinale dei Laghi group
Description
Monte Cervellino (1493 m) is the culminating peak of the long ridge which, detached from the Apennine watershed at Monte Borgognone, divides Val Parma from Val Baganza. It looks like an elongated back, covered by beech groves interrupted by small clearings; it consists entirely of calcareous-marly rocks, belonging to the Monte Caio Flysch formation.
If the upper slopes are quite steep, the slopes are instead wide and very gentle, especially on the Val Baganza side. Only the western side is partly steep, interrupted by a large wall of crumbling rocks; the opposite side is almost entirely wooded, even if there are some small and characteristic scree just below the summit ridge. The main peak of the mountain is surmounted by a metal cross, placed in 2017; a little further to the south-west rises a small partly rocky foresummit (1478 m).
The entire watershed ridge between the Parma and Baganza valleys is crossed by a methane pipeline, built in 2001; the glimpse into the wood, which faithfully follows the edge of the ridge, is also clearly visible from satellite images. The protests by the CAI and the local hikers didn't help much: they only got the pipeline to avoid the summit of Monte Cervellino, bypassing it with a short tunnel. In this way at least the summit spine remained intact. Also due to the presence of the methane pipeline, these areas are not very busy; apart from mushroom pickers and hunters (in the autumn season) it is rare to meet anyone.
The top of Monte Cervellino is characterized by two clearings, interspersed with a small beech grove. One of these is located near the summit cross, and faces south: it offers a beautiful panorama of the upper Parma and Baganza valleys, Monte Caio, the Crinale dei Laghi, Alpe di Succiso, Monte Cusna and the easternmost groups of the Ligurian Apennines (Monti Molinàtico and Spiaggi). The second clearing instead faces north, and is occupied by a repeater; a little further down the track of the methane pipeline resumes. From there the view extends over the lower Val Parma, over the Po Valley (if it is clear you can see the city of Parma) crowned in the distance by the eastern Alpine arc.