Wild Valstrona – If there is somewhere nature meets man, that place can only be Valstrona.

It Is a wild, tough valley telling stories with testimonials to ancestral cultures. Our route will explore the whole valley right to its very end, Campello Monti, the Walser village joining Valsesia and Macugnaga.

WE START FROM OMEGNA

The starting point is Omegna, an industrious little town on the lake shore, home to the writer Gianni Rodari and his imaginative stories which have touched on our lands.

WOOD AND PINOCCHIO

Starting from the lakeside carpark, we cross the town in the direction of Strona. Going over the bridge on the eponymous river, we take the Via Valle Strona, keeping left. The eponymous valley takes its name from the river crossing it. Woodwork is the traditional activity of these lands, which over the decades also brought it the nickname of “the valley of spoons”.

There is still some production going on but whereas once upon a time it was spoons and ladles, local artisans have given themselves over to other wooden objects and in particular to statues of Pinocchio, so that it is more likely nowadays to hear the valley called “Pinocchio’s Valley”. As we go along our route, we come up against a hairpin bend where we will keep right and then proceed into Via per Germanio reaching Canova del Vescovo, a little hamlet with a tiny little community and a little church dedicated to St Anthony of Padua.

THE BENDS BEGIN

Later, keeping right, we will turn left and take the Via per Omegna, and cycling along it we enter Germanio, where you just can’t help noticing the Church called St Mary of the Graces, with three semi-circular apses showing its Romanesque origins (circa 1300). Shortly afterwards, at the intersection, we will turn right into Via Santa Maria, then turning left into Via alla Fontana for about 100m and then turning right on to a secondary road. After a hairpin bend into Via Sasso, at the fork we turn right and follow Via Loreglia for about 1,45 km.

ANCIENT CHURCHES ON THE WAY

We enter the little village of Loreglia, where we find the Baroque church of San Gottardo, built in 1593, on the right. At the next junction, we turn left and proceed along the road taking a right at the intersection for 220m into Via Carrozzabile, later taking a left-hand hairpin bend on to a secondary road. We follow the road keeping right, guided by the GPS, until we return a little later on to the main road. At the junction, we turn left heading along Via Roma Imperiale where we meet the Church of San Rocco, well-known for the valuable 18th century paintings by Luca Rossetti and G. Battista Cantalupi, excellent Cusio artists.

LUZZOGNO FOLK HAVE BIG HEARTS

We then cycle along the whole of the Via Tempio della Vittoria until we get to Luzzogno, a village situated halfway up on the northern side of the Strona Valley.

Taking a right, we go into Via Pianaccia. A point of interest here is certainly the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Colletta, which owes its name to the place called Colletta and is dedicated to Caravaggoi’s Madonna. Neither historical documents nor oral tradition is able to accurately reconstruct the origin of the Sanctuary which hosts a “miraculous” painting of the Virgin Mary, which has been a cult object for centuries. It is said the painting was completed in a single night. We turn into Via Vittorio Emanuele III and, after 60 metres, we go left following the same road for about another 180 metres and then continuing straight ahead into Via per Innuggio.

THE POWER OF NATURE

All around us Nature starts to show itself in all its glory. The valley, steep and wooded, hosts many species of animals typical of this territory: Golden Eagles, roe deer, and a myriad of migratory birds.

At the fork in the road go left following the Via Principale in order to reach Innuggio, a little hamlet in the Strona Valley. As we go on with our tour, we turn right on to ZO, and we soon find we are in the proximity of another fork where we will go left into Via Fratelli di Dio. Advancing into Via Martiri della Libertà we soon arrive at an intersection where we go straight on. After passing another little hamlet in the Valley, we go on into Via delle Cascine, passing the little hamlets of  Otra, Peira and Forno as we cycle uphill.

THE ROAD NARROWS

The road narrows down and we go into the most uncontaminated nature, then reaching Campello Monti, our destination. This little corner of paradise is a point of passage for great excursions towards Monte Rosa, dotted with meadows and streams, and is the perfect place for a stop to regenerate.  

The way back follows the main road through the valley – via Omegna – which goes down through the villages of Piana di Fornero and Strona and is great fun to cycle.  You can do it fast and furious, or slowly, savouring the pretty little villages and meeting the gentle folk of this valley, who are always ready to tell anecdotes of history and life in these places.  Wild Valstrona.

Wild Valstrona

TYPES OF ROAD
Singletrack: 2.03 km
Path: 4.95 km
Bike path: 0 km
Minor road: 5.63 km
Asphalt road: 33.2 km

SURFACES
Natural: 2.88 km
Unpaved: 6.59 km
Dirt road: 0 m
Paved area: 16.2 km
Asphalt: 20.3 km
Unknown 100 m

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