Sentiero di Santa Rita in Roccaporena: Route, Difficulty and Map

The Route of the Sentiero di Santa Rita

The Sentiero di Santa Rita is a linear route: the start and finish are at different points, and it does not close a loop back to the starting point. The route stays at modest elevations, between a minimum of 641 m and a maximum of 707 m.

The route crosses Roccaporena and touches its main places linked to Saint Rita. Numerous votive shrines are marked along the way, numbered in Roman numerals, punctuating the ascent and descent. There are also a fountain, drinking water points and a picnic area.

Roccaporena can be reached from Cascia by the only road linking the village to the main town, opened in 1950. Before then the area remained very isolated.

Sentiero di Santa Rita Technical Data

• Municipality: Cascia
• Length: 5.5 km
• Route type: linear, not a loop
• Maximum elevation: 707 m
• Minimum elevation: 641 m
• Elevation difference: modest, with some ups and downs
• Best period: from April to October

Since the route is linear, the elevation gain depends on the direction of travel.

Near the start there are three parking lots, about 51 m, 140 m and 159 m away.

Sentiero di Santa Rita Map

The Sentiero di Santa Rita is a 5.5 km linear route, not a loop. The map shows where the route lies in relation to Roccaporena and locates the parking lots near the start and the points of interest along the way.

Points of Interest Along the Sentiero di Santa Rita

The trail is dotted with a series of numbered votive shrines. Along the route there are also a fountain, two drinking water points and a picnic area.

Among the religious buildings, the Santuario di Roccaporena was designed by the Turin architect Oreste della Piana and consecrated in 1948. At the center of the four-sided portico in local white stone stands a bronze statue of Saint Rita, placed in 1968 and the work of the sculptor Venanzio Crocetti. The saint is portrayed as a woman of the people, with her arms open toward visitors. The interior has three naves, with mosaics on the apse and walls.

Saint Rita's marital home is where the saint lived with her husband and two sons until she entered the Augustinian monastery of Santa Maria Maddalena in Cascia. The building withstood the 1599 earthquake and was turned into a chapel, opened for worship in 1629. Inside, the altar is topped by a painting by Luca Giordano.

The Chiesa di San Montano, of medieval origin, is the oldest church in the village and is dedicated to the Syrian hermit monk considered the protector of Roccaporena. Here, according to tradition, Rita received the sacraments and married Paolo di Ferdinando Mancini. The present building is the result of various rebuildings: the original Romanesque layout had a single nave, and the second was added at the end of the 14th century.

Roccaporena also has places that are not among the points marked on the route. The Scoglio Sacro («Sacred Rock») is a rocky spur about 120 m above the village, reached by a stairway of about 330 steps. The Orto del Miracolo («Garden of the Miracle») is where, by tradition, the saint found a rose and two figs in the middle of winter. More hiking ideas can be found on the page on Sibillini Mountains hiking.