GE_12 Ring path Mount Ramaceto

Once you have passed the houses of Ventarola, follow the mule-track indicated by a yellow triangle which rises into the valley of the Ventarola and Ramaceto streams. Ignore a diversion on the right, cross the stream and carry on walking on flat ground between little woods and meadows until the Quadrivio della Crocetta (877 m). Ignore the pathway on the left to Passo della Crocetta (which you will do on the way back) and follow the trail sign. At 1100 m leave the mule-track and take a footpath which goes down to the right. Cross a little brook and walk uphill again between the beech trees as far as Bocca di Feia (1131 m) where the sight opens to the Fontanabuona Valley and the coastal mountains (1.20-1.30 hours from Ventarola). Here you join the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri (red and white sign trail) which you follow going left uphill along a grassy ridge. Walk up some very steep stretches until, after 30-35 minutes, you reach the little chapel on the top of the panoramic south-western peak of the Monte Ramaceto (1320 m). The Alta Via continues along the ridge, whose northern side is covered with beech woods, while the opposite side, rocky and bare, overlooks the pleasant plain of Cichero. By a short, steep ascent reach the actual top of Monte Ramaceto (1345) covered with beech trees. Carry on walking along the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri as far as Passo della Crocetta d'Acero (926 m, 1.10-1.20 hours from the south-western peak of Monte Ramaceto). Turn off the Alta Via which goes to Passo della Forcella and follow the road on the left which, after half a km, reaches Quadrivio della Crocetta (877 m). Here join the mule track to Ventarola which you already walked on going uphill (30-35 minutes from Passo della Crocetta d'Acero).