Sibillini Mountains
{{short description|Mountain in Italy}}
File:Piani di Castelluccio June 2016.jpg
The Sibillini Mountains, or Sibylline Mountains (Italian: Monti Sibillini) are one of the major mountain groups in the Italian Peninsula, and part of the Apennines range. Most of the peaks are over {{convert|2000|m|ft|abbr=on}}; the highest is Monte Vettore at {{convert|2476|m|ft|abbr=on}}.
Since 1993 the area has been part of the Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini (Sibillini Mountains National Park).
The present-day landscape morphology, predominantly U-shaped valleys and glacial depressions, is due to the action of glaciers during the Quaternary period.
The name Sibylline goes back to a legend about a cave in the mountains (today known as the Sibyl cave), where a male oracle and necromancer took refuge to escape Christian persecutions against paganism{{Citation needed|date=March 2024}} in the late Roman period, and who occasionally revealed secrets of the future. Necromancers and knights travelled from across Europe, after exhausting journeys, to try to obtain a prophesy.
Wildlife and vegetation
The small Lago di Pilato within a deep U-shaped valley below Monte Vettore, is home to a crustacean endemic to this location, Chirocephalus marchesonii.
The area contains stands of beech scattered amongst open subalpine grasslands and meadows maintained by the grazing of sheep.
See also
Sources
- {{cite book|first=Bernardino|last=Gentili|chapter=Note di Geomorfologia del Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini|title=Collana dei Quaderni scientifico-divulgativi del Parco Nazionale dei Monti Sibillini|publisher=Aniballi Grafiche|location=Ancona|date=April 2002 }}
{{coord|42|49|26|N|13|16|32|E|type:mountain_region:IT|display=title}}
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