Monte Cimone is the highest peak of the northern Apennines. Its slopes are shared by Fanano, Sestola, Riolunato, Montecreto and Fiumalbo, and from the summit, on the clearest days, the view takes in the arc of the Alps, the Adriatic and the Tyrrhenian Sea, as far as Elba, Capraia and Corsica. It is said that no other point in Italy lets you see such a large part of the country.
The summit is also a place of work. The Italian Air Force has run a weather station here since 1946, and the former Romualdi refuge houses the «Ottavio Vittori» Climate Observatory of CNR-ISAC. Since 1996 its instruments have continuously measured greenhouse gases, aerosols and solar radiation: it is one of the 31 global stations of the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Atmosphere Watch programme, the only one in Italy and in the whole Mediterranean basin. Far from major sources of pollution and with an open horizon, Cimone is an ideal vantage point on the atmosphere of southern Europe.
Next to the antennas stands the small chapel of the Madonna delle Nevi, inaugurated in 1908: every year on 5 August people walk up in procession for Mass.
The summit is reached on foot. The classic route starts at Lago della Ninfa and takes about four hours there and back; when the lifts are running, the chairlift from Passo del Lupo goes up to Pian Cavallaro, leaving about an hour and a half of climbing. The weather changes quickly up here: even in summer, bring a windproof jacket.