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From Venice (Val Noveglia) City of Umbria through the ridges of Barigazzo

Guild and the view of the longitudinal ridges

A long and wonderful Sunday walk with my wife Silvia and of course the dogs.
Departing from Venice, a small hamlet of stone houses that can be reached by car Noveglia by a quarter of an hour following the directions. This brings us to one of the most remote parts of the inland valleys. Shortly before Pareto and Pianelleto.

The map is the last reliable Ceno Valley - from the PEN MONTE MONTE Barigazzo (you can download high-resolution from this page or pick up the free tourist office Bardi), which in this case differs considerably from that of 2001 indicates that paths that no longer exist.

Here are the links generated automatically from the diary of TrailRunner:

- the stage on the on-line diary- ;

- the file. GPX excursion;

- the map on OpenMap .

From Venice hour starts at 977 meters above sea level, a stretch of 803 CAI (25 km total from Castellaccio The Majesty of the blade). We pass through the houses and climb right into a point where the internal streets of the village is narrow and does not seem to be the path, but the white and red on the trail of the last house removes all doubt.

The view from the ridge crest Difficult Easy

The first part is quite challenging because you go up in 800 meters at 1,125 meters above sea level, through a largely corresponding to a dry river, probably active in other months because rather dug. At the end of the climb, continue to the right and start with a narrow path and the trail faded more than the first part that runs along the cliff on your left which lasted almost a mile with slight ups and downs. Moving from time to time by overlooking the cliff path and each time the view is breathtaking. Undergrowth of beech and clean Querciole alternating with small clearing of vegetation, especially bracken. In the middle of this stretch there would be an old orange sign would come down and cut more than a kilometer, but would not make sense not to get to the summit, unless you plan to spend only the return coming from behind, from the Church of Barigazzo.
the end and then the forest opens into a sudden descent can open his eyes on the two famous peaks of Barigazzo , you see all through a slit. It is the same spectacular point of view of a large quantity of photographs, including the cover of the aforementioned new hiking map of the Province.
down slightly towards the saddle, at a Boschina turn left onto 809th CAI path that crosses a steep descent after only a few hundred meters dell'809a the section marked with the orange of the Province and the new trail that descends from Church of Barigazzo exactly in half between the hard and the Cresta Cresta Easy, we had just seen and before which we went. Then turn left again following tables metal CAI Bicester who met here for the first time (for those coming from Val Noveglia) and identifying "Lago di San Giorgio - City of Ruins of Umbria. "
From an altitude of 1,000 meters, you start a beautiful location, in fact backward than done but just 100 meters below.
A broad valley in a forest of trees with high drum, clean, with large square stones everywhere.

The rusted signs for the ruins

Read descents and ascents to make a loop that leads to beautiful (but we did not find probably because we lost the signal that would take us a while to abandon the path to our left, but the tables here are all rusted and almost illegible often hidden by vegetation). After the hypothetical lake continues and after covering a mile and a half since the beginning of the "boil" orange you get near the turnoff for the ruins that we were looking for. Here, too, to take a great care because the trail are identified with difficulty, with indications rusty pole fell and was leaning against a tree.
It takes a small semi-circle with a slight slope to be in the middle of the ruins of Cities of Umbria, the subject of studies since the nineteenth century and of which there are only traces of the walls, while maintaining the mystery of its origins that Most historical records indicate a large castle in the second century Ligure BC The research began in 1861 with the archaeologist Alexander Wolf, who identified the site with a series of excavations that brought to light all the walls of the old building. Among the hypotheses of other scholars that appears to have been founded Cities of Umbria instead in the fifth century BC C. by the Umbrian who left his name and, given their presence in the area of \u200b\u200bplace-names also of Etruscan origin, such as Tosca and Vei, it is assumed that the Umbrian, Ligurian and Etruscan allies would have to resist the penetration of the Gauls, down from the north Po Valley. The name, which appears in some papers of the State of Principles Landi, another simplest hypothesis is that "Umbria" in the dialect Local means "shadow", which it remains for most of the year on that part of the mountain.

Silvia at the center of the city of Umbria

Having worked around the ruins going back to resume the main trail, which skirts a pond that is located under the city (that was well supplied with water). In less than 500 meters you arrive to the area equipped with benches, and finally the primary source of drinking water, corresponding to the paved road that leads from Tosca Varsi last parking lot before the peak of Barigazzo. At this point the paths are already 5 km from the start and was back down to 937 meters, a height similar to our starting point.
go up two bends of the road are the red and white trail of the short stretch of 809th, which had dropped in half. We go up to only 500 meters to a height of 1.029, with a tear of about one hundred meters up and coming at the intersection have seen this time you use the orange section that passes through the ridges in the opposite direction. 700 m path to move to 1,083 meters above sea level at the beginning of the so-called Cresta Easy, leaving on our right with the trail marked with red and white as many a journey back 700 meters all on a narrow trail in the coast, the "blade" of the mountain with rocky cliffs is on your right that to your left as you can well imagine the famous photographs.

The front view of the ridge with the Hard Rock of
Varsi background

As this is the "easy" some passages are really challenging and you must be very careful. Silvia for example, has taken a historic tumble , fortunately falling forward and curling in on itself. We laughed as they ride to school when one falls with the chair back and you think you may crack head. I dare not imagine what would have happened if he had slipped on one side. The cause at this point were too tired legs after more than 6 kilometers binding, which are already at the end of the ridge 7. Not to do so in case of rain lightly, because the stones were slippery and stretches of clay soil would be even more insidious.
Near the end of the ridge you climb on a stone platform surreal, perfectly flat and square. A natural balcony to observe the "Cresta Hard" which is located in front of and beyond what you see framed the Rock of Varsi a postcard perfect natural.
You get to the end "in tight ass" the first crossing at the saddle where you turn to go down to the ruins.
At this point you just have to go over all the initial part dell'803 that will take us back to Venice in a couple of miles, always with the CAI to the end, after traveling more than 9 miles and had two parts of alternating up and two down for a total of 780 meters altitude in just 200 feet of elevation (932 meters, the lowest point in 1132 and the exact highest point).