Olmo - Mount Santa Croce circular route

The starting point is in the Via Litoranea at the restaurant called “Il Paradiso del Golfo”. You will walk on route 525 that you will find past the restaurant in direction of the 5 Terre. It is a stairway that in a short time will take you to the Santuario di Madonna dell’Olmo (Madonna dell’Olmo Sanctuary). Take the concrete stairway between the fountain and the church and reach the while path. Now, go right onto the road, pass the gate stopping cars from entering (the entrance for pedestrians is on the left of the gate) and keep walking until you reach a sharp bend in direction of Via Litoranea. 

Here, take the path in front of you that, after a few meters, widens and becomes a military route with a steady climb to a panoramic spot overlooking the city and the gulf. You will then take the pebbly road going uphill towards the top of the mount. Shortly after, the pebbly road becomes a path, and it passes by a quarry and will take you to the first military posts of the Monte S. Croce’s batteries. 

Here, you will see two watchtowers, three abandoned cannons, and the remains of some military structures. You will also see the position for the anti-aircraft lighthouse on a trellis. In the upper area, there is the third of the three anti-aircraft canons.

From here, you will take the trail, starting with a short brick stairway crossing the support military posts for the anti-aircraft batteries, and you will reach the fork with route 525. Turn left towards Olmo Fabiano and shortly after you will find Casa Pilloa. Today, it is a picturesque ruin of considerable size that, in the past, must have been used as hospice, manor house, refreshment point, and farm. 

You will walk by another quarry and the ruins of the buildings that had been built for the quarry, and then you will be back at the square of the Madonna dell’Olmo Sanctuary. Here, you will take the road on the right leading you towards a place named Ceppo. This road later becomes a stairway leading you to your starting point.