Given that the first stop can be reached in very little time we’ve got the whole morning to get to our starting place and visit the historical city centre of Varzo and the Multimedia Archeological Museum at the Devero Park Vigil premises. The path follows small town roads (at Varzo) as well as the beautiful stone-paved mule track (Veia di Bröcc) which from the Boldrini Bridge goes up to Bertonio and then to the Trasquera Church.
Up until 1961, which is the year a carriageable road was built, this was the main path taken to reach Trasquera linking up the beautiful parish churches of Saint Giorgio at Varzo and of Saint Gervasion and Saint Protasio at Trasquera.
From the square in front of the train station of Varzo, we take the road which goes up on the right. We cross the old main road and follow straight on towards the Varzo city centre along the Viale Castelli alley up until we reach the nice parish church of Saint Giorgio and a small medieval tower. In front of the tourist information centre we once again cross the torrent and follow upwards along the Via Zanalda road until the nice oratory of Saint Rocco in the municipality of Alneda is reached. We follow on flatly along the main road (Via Alneda) passing through nice stone houses up to where we cross the main road which goes up to Saint Domenico. On the left we can see a nice building with a small tower: this is the residence of the Protected Areas Management Body of Ossola where one can request information on the Devero Park Vigil and where one can visit the recently put-together Multimedia Archeological Museum. We take Via Galtarossa which follows on flatly and we follow it in its entirety up to reaching the Bertonio area where we meet the old Sempione main road in correspondence of the Ancient Wine Bar (Antica Osteria). We take a brief tract of sidewalk along the main road up to reaching the Boldrini Bridge which crosses the Cairasca Torrent. The (marked) mule track starts just after the bridge, on the right. With numerous hairpin bends passing through beeches and chestnut trees, we take a long climb up taking advantage of the stop overs at the Pianzol Chapel and the Del Sasso Chapel. In this way we pass the 500 meters of altitude difference which raise the Trasquera Parish Church to its suggestive location on a rock’s peak located at the bottom of the valley. We carry on along the main road Via Alpi Lepontine up until we reach the town centre. In order to reach our destination from Trasquera we follow the directions towards Outer Agro and La Sotta thus following the “instructional path” (“percorso didattico”), geared with information panels portraying information on nature, history, and local folklore. We then cross a beautiful pine tree wood carrying the scent of resin and then finally reach the Della Sotta and Della Fraccia areas where one may sleep overnight.

THE TOUR:
Minerals’ Tour

THE STAGES OF THIS TOUR:
Minerals’ Tour - Stage 1: Varzo -Trasquera
Minerals’ Tour - Stage 2: Trasquera - Gondo
Minerals’ Tour - Stage 3: Gondo- Sempione Mountain Pass
Minerals’ Tour - Stage 4: Sempione Mountain Pass - Mount Leone Hütte Mountain Hut
Minerals’ Tour - Stage 5: Mount Leone Hütte Mountain Hut - Rosswald
Minerals’ Tour - Stage 6: Rosswald - Binn
Minerals’ Tour - Stage 7: Binn – Alpe Devero
Minerals’ Tour - Stage 8: Devero Alp – Veglia Alp
Minerals’ Tour - Stage 9: Veglia Alp – Trasquera - Varzo

Last update: 08/03/2018 ore 08:20:01