The Mount Gelbison

Where the Mount is Sacred, where you can find one of the most visited sanctuaries of all the Campania Region i.e. the Sanctuary of Madonna di Novi, there is a possibility to follow one of the many routes, the most significant one that leads to the summit of the Mount Gelbison. In fact, Gelbison, which in Arabic means “the Mount of the Idol”, because this mountain had been sacred already before the Basilian Monks founded this sanctuary on the summit in the X century. The holiness of the places can be felt just at the mouth of the route where amidst the dense and enchanting greenery runs the stream Torna tripping here and there among the boulders of sandwort creating a sequence of pools and little waterfalls. It can be touched also at the “Spring of Fiumefreddo” where ever-fresh and crystal-clear water spurts near the effigy of the Virgin. A sacredness that can be sensed also in the upper parts of the itinerary path when two big heaps of stones with a summit cross , the so-called “Monti di Pietà” (Mounts of Piety), remind us of the deep devotion of the ancient peoples.