Sibillini Mountains

Lentil and poppy blooming on Piani di Castelluccio.
A summer view of the Monti Sibillini.

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 2,000 m (6,600 ft); the highest is Monte Vettore at 2,476 m (8,123 ft).

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] 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.