A story that walks again.

The idea and first attempts

Giustino Fortunato conceived a plan to cross the Lattari Mountains and began his first explorations. This is where the idea celebrated by the project was born.

There was no organised tourist itinerary: only mule tracks, trading routes, shepherds’ paths and working trails. This lived-in mountain landscape is the project’s inspiration.

The first crossing

The journey was completed the following year. The distinction matters: 1876 marks the birth of the idea; 1877, the first complete crossing of the Lattari Mountains.

The first step

Four friends from Vette e Baite set out with Fortunato’s account and clothes recovered from family trunks and flea markets. Hats, cloaks and natural fabrics accompanied a crossing designed to be more than an ordinary trek.

The arrival at Punta Campanella lighthouse immediately established the closing ritual of the experience.

A growing project

Edition after edition, the route gained encounters, stories, workshops and collaborations. The Lattari Mountains are explored not as a static backdrop but as a living system of landscapes and communities.

The 2021 crossing also became the documentary Tu l’hai vista la libertà? – Giustino Fortunato e quella visione di infinito, an audiovisual memory of the journey and its meaning.

The manifesto

The sixth edition brought identity, goals, roots, local themes and method together in a founding document, clearly distinguishing the Alta Via dei Monti Lattari trail from the Alta Via dei Lattari 1876 cultural project.

One hundred and fifty years

The eighth edition becomes Year Zero of the trail: memory is translated into a Credential, a cultural programme and a structured route from Cava de’ Tirreni to Punta Campanella.

The anniversary looks forward as well as back, creating a tested, recognisable and repeatable model.