Hiking

On 6 April 2026, I reached Lake Pontini, from where I planned to climb to the summit of Monte Comero (1,373 m). Driving up the valley, I saw snow on the ridges, but, misled by the recent spring outing, I did not worry at all. A few hundred meters on the trail, and it was flooded by runoff, a clear sign of massive snowmelt above. Indeed, on much of the upper section, I sank into quite a bit of snow (20 to 40cm). Without snowshoes, the climb was tiring and took longer than planned. Still, I enjoyed myself immensely: the snowy surprise just added to the experience. More planning and thought would have helped, and honestly, I felt a bit ashamed. Bertinoro, from our earlier family walk, sits 1,100 meters lower than Monte Comero. In early April, that difference matters. ...

About two months ago, on April 4, 2026, I went on a short hike in the foothills of Romagna. The hike itself is easy and very enjoyable, but what made it special was the presence of two of our kids, Marco and Anna. We left the car in Fratta Terme, then crossed the one-and-a-half hills that lead to the beautiful village of Bertinoro, where we stopped on the famous piazza for a drink and to enjoy the renowned scenic view of the Pianura Padana and the Adriatic Sea. We got back to Fratta at sunset. ...

The Marmarole mountain group is an island of quiet, where, especially at the end of the season, it’s easy not to meet anyone for entire days. Nature is harsh and wild; steep, apparently inaccessible ridges separate the slopes and basins. It follows that the elevation gains are significant and many obligatory passages are often technical, exposed and equipped with steel cables (via ferrata). Water is scarce everywhere, especially on the north face, which also lacks refuges at altitude. Up there, the support structures are spartan bivouacs, isolated and challenging to reach. The solitude up there is almost total, but frequent encounters with high-altitude wildlife compensate for it. It’s easy to spot chamois, ibex, marmots, and eagles. ...

On Sunday afternoon, I suddenly decided to take my motorcycle, ride to the foothills, leave the bike there, and hike the Monte Mauro loop, including the climb to the summit. The Monte Mauro loop is a classic route in the Vena del Gesso area. Wooded areas alternate with exposed stretches below the summit of Monte Mauro, where you literally walk on chalk outcrops. The trail is well marked, but you have to pay attention to the path because there are often alternatives (also marked) that can confuse you. It is an enjoyable short tour. ...

A few weeks ago, we accompanied Anna to Amsterdam, where she will study at the University. She is our youngest daughter. Marco left home years ago to study in France, where he graduated, and now lives in Brussels, and Giulia is in her third year of medical school, also living in another town. After twenty-plus years, the nest is empty. It’s a strange feeling wandering around the house knowing that none of the kids are around. Despite feeling nostalgic, Serena and I are doing well. We’re getting used to this new life as a seasoned couple. ...

I was hiking the Narrows trail along the Rockcastle river in Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest, slipped off the edge of the trail and broke me ankle. There was no cell phone service so I ended up butt-crawling a ways on the trail (crutches I hacked together made things worse with weak wood out there) until I finally raised a faint signal. Texted 911 (so thankful they have this service for the deaf), helped their volunteer rescue squad locate me by boat on the river below and their wonderful firemen hauled me down the mountain with good cheer. ...

Simon Collison in Another Week in Edale perfectly captures why I enjoy hiking in bad weather, something those in my proximity consider borderline reckless: A calm day is always welcome, but there’s a perverse pleasure in struggling against violent gusts, or enjoying the steady rhythmic crackle of rain on a waterproof hood. Sometimes, bad weather can feel like a gift, exactly what’s needed to stir the senses and awaken the brain. ...

From Corezzo, a short hiking loop along the park’s oldest mule tracks. The Serra Pass mule track is one of the most fascinating in the entire Casentino territory, if only for the tangible memory of the millions of feet that have trodden, traveled, and worn it down over the centuries. It connected – and still connects – the upper Savio valley with that of Corsalone, branching off from the Romagna valley floor near the Gualchiere (about 2 km south of Bagno di Romagna) and climbing up the Nasseto ridge to reach the summit ridge at a pass that isn’t exactly low (1,150 m), but evidently “convenient” for other reasons, given that its use is documented as early as prehistoric times and experienced an intense period with medieval pilgrimages directed to Rome and later to La Verna. ...

I went hiking in my beloved Foreste Casentinesi National Park a few weeks ago. This trip has been on my radar for a long time, a circular tour of incomparable beauty among wild environments like very few others in the area. Among the many ways to reach the La Lama, it is undoubtedly the best way to visit the ancient forests surrounding the beautiful, partly marshy plateau between rocky crags. The initial detour to Mount Penna is motivated by the rare panoramic view, perhaps the most beautiful in the entire park, as if from a wide-open balcony overlooking the sea of forests below. ...

I’ve been slacking a little lately, shocked mainly by what is happening worldwide. I’ve also been busy at work and, unfortunately, am taking my old man to way too many medical checkups. A short recap of notable facts might be in order. FatturaElettronica for .NET 3.6 has been released. It adds support for the upcoming technical specifications v1.9 that are coming into effect on April 1, 2025 (not a joke.) The changelog is here. I did some maintenance work on Eve. The CI workflow has been switched to ubuntu-latest from 20.04, as the latter is about to be sunsetted by GitHub. I also merged two pull requests (#1541 and #1547), one of which was long-standing. There isn’t enough material for a release, although the guys who submitted the PRs might think otherwise (if that’s the case, let me know.) I ran two DevRomagna meetups. The first one was on OpenTelemetry and was kept by Alessandro Mengoli, of whom I’m very proud (I’ve been encouraging him to start speaking for a long time.) The second was on Linux Containers but before Docker. The speaker was Gabriele Santomaggio, my go-to buddy regarding low-level networking stuff. I found both events to be quite successful and enjoyable. I hope the other attendants agree. I finally deactivated my Twitter/X account. I abandoned the platform a while ago and did not miss it. I maintain a presence on Mastodon and Bluesky, mainly to propagate whatever content I post on my website, but don’t count on me following or reading you there (same with LinkedIn.) I’m not active on social media and don’t see myself getting back into them. I’m not interested anymore (and the content there is mostly trash.) I went on a nice hike a couple of weeks ago. It was cold and overcast, and that’s why, I suspect, I did not meet a single person the whole day. Speaking of hiking, I finally got myself a Garmin inReach Mini 2 device. It’s meant to be used in case of emergency. It allows me to call for help and send sms messages even when no cell signal is available (it uses the Iridium satellite network.) I resisted getting it so far because of the high cost, not so much of the device itself, but the mandatory subscription. Only recently, I found that one can buy Garmin data plans from other vendors, and ProteGear has a nice option to suspend the subscription when not in use. So, I bought the device from Garmin, activated it, and subscribed to ProteGear. It’s looking good so far, and sending sms messages (and emails!) when there’s no cell signal feels like black magic. I’ve been reading good books, and I’m grateful for them. Well, my dad is not doing well. He’s okay now, but he’s been going through a lot, and more is expected soon. That’s life, I know. I am having difficulty making peace with what is happening in the world right now. American friends, I cannot understand how you could re-elect Donald Trump for a second term. It beats me. I am in shock and worried about the geopolitical consequences. I hope time will prove me wrong, but the future looks grim.