Pietracupa and the waterfall of the Assi stream.

A history of the Calabrian mountains

Pietracupa was the mountain hamlet of the municipality of Guardavalle, consisting of several groups of houses scattered around the upper reaches of the Assi River. It had been formed around 1870 with the arrival of settlers from neighboring municipalities and had found livelihoods ingoat farming and forestry activities. That is, until theflood that devastated the valley in 1950. The municipality then resolved to move the small mountain community to a safer location, founding not far away the hamlet of Elce della Vecchia (m 1100), on the road from the main town up to Scollina.

In the thick of the forest, the Pietracupa waterfall

Not far from the abandoned hamlet is the waterfall formed by the over ten-meter drop of the Assi stream. At the base of the picturesque waterfall the water forms a natural pool shaded by dense vegetation. It is what in the local dialect is called a gurna, a term of Greek etymology for a collection of water. A notable attraction, the waterfall as a photographic subject, the pool for a refreshing bath after the climb. Hiking trails - the Arcadia Trail and the Aces Trail - have been created in the area, making it possible to visit the area to the fullest.

What the name of a place tells

The name of the new mountain hamlet, Elce della Vecchia, deserves comment. In the first term it refers to an evergreen oak tree typical of Mediterranean vegetation, the holm oak, for botanists Quercus ilex, which in the talk of centuries gone by precisely became elice or hemlock. So we are talking about a large tree, and it does not matter who the Old Woman was because it is easy for her to be the protagonist of some obscure legend.