Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino

Italiano

The Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino is an almost flat route of about 15 minutes on foot that connects the two places of the Northern Grigna. We are above Pasturo in Valsassina at just over 1000 meters above sea level. Cornisella is in a central and inclined position, Brunino is off-centre, advanced towards the valley, flat protected by small hills, in the middle there is Spinarolo, three huts and a meadow.
The first part of the trail, whose terrain is a dirt road on the Acqua Fredda Valley, is in common with the Sentiero Colle di Balisio - Cornisella done downhill. After passing this crossroads, at a farmhouse shelter of tools or animals, there is a fork, at which we choose to proceed straight ahead to enter a wood of a small relief leaving the valley, to exit a few minutes later at the entrance to Brunino from the road of Pasturo, where there is a small chapel, currently with statuettes of the Holy Family.[^][^]. If we had taken a right at the fork in the road, we would arrive at the other end of the place, a few meters below the Agriturismo Brunino.

Years ago the Comunità Montana Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino and Riviera which manages the Northern Grigna Regional Park where we are located designed some mountain bike routes, with the name Pedalando nel Parco. The Cornisella - Brunino path coincides with a stretch of route 3, Bike tour of the ridge, for which there are some signposts.

Directions in Cornisella

The crossroads of the Church of the Alpini in Cornisella along the Strada Pasturo - Alpe Cova is full of indications. To the right of the road that branches off to the left where there is a house, under the Cornisella locality sign, in the direction of the secondary road there is a Brunino - 3 sign for Pedalando nel Parco, understood as Parco della Grigna. On the other side of the secondary road facing the chapel dedicated to the Madonna, Regina Pacis, among the arrows one is bright yellow, Agriturismo Brunino cell. 339 67 18 395 on the left.[^]

After a few meters of this uphill road, cemented to facilitate cars, and a few meters downhill, at a second flat intersection, there is another bike trail sign, with two signs in the same direction. In the first row, Brunino - 3 light blue or blue sticker on the left; in the third row Spinarolo, dot or green circle. The blue color means a medium difficulty route, up to Spinarolo it is green, meaning easy. I have walked this path many times, I have never seen a bicycle! On the same post, a table was added, ZacUp in the same direction; ZacUp is the Grignone skyrace which takes place in September. On the opposite side of the road, down along the stone wall of a house, a wooden arrow Chiesetta-Sacro-Cuore Colle-Balisio points in the same direction; on the edge of the wall, in yellow paint, Balisio in that direction, an action to blame. There is therefore no signage for the Cornisella - Brunino path, for those traveling on foot in Grigna, which will follow that for bicycles.

From Cornisella, along the Acqua Fredda Valley

Having completed the roundabout at the Alpini crossroads, for the ownership of the house painted pink, with a difference in height like two humps, the first being higher, we find ourselves a few meters to the side of the little chapel of the Madonna, walking on level ground in a southerly direction on a road the size of a car, dirt in the space of the two wheels with grass in the middle, enjoying the landscape of the Valsassina mountains towards the Orobie, moving away from the Grigna. After a stone house in a panoramic position used by those who make hay, which marks the ideal border between Cornisella and Spinarolo,[^] there is the Baita Caterina, whose owners have set up a covered outdoor living area and a well-kept garden with tree trunks as chairs. Dogs keep good watch by barking at the hiker. The new locality faces the Acqua Fredda Valley, a hill of a few meters cut into grass hides Cornisella.
A few meters on the flat, here is the Baita de Spinarol, mt. 1030, recognizable by the fresco of a deer in the snow of the Northern Grigna. We go down towards a white house along the road which has been cemented in the space of the two wheels. On the right, a Balisio wooden sign. A few more meters, a first fork in the path has become as wide as the passage of a person and is dirt. The red bike sign indicates a slight climb to the left for Brunino - 3, on the post in the same direction is a signpost for the ZacUp race, white background and red arrow. To read Balisio down on a wooden sign you should go down a few meters, and go up the other side to find wooden Cornisella hanging from a tree trunk pointing in the opposite direction to our direction of travel. At the foot of the grassy terrain, Agriturismo Brunino and a yellow upward arrow,[^] examples of different signs that are frequently encountered on the mountain.

High up on the hill, behind a swing in the house, stands a pylon, which transports electricity from Valtellina to the plain, unfortunately right along the beloved Grigna and regional park. Then, the most beautiful stretch of the entire route, one hundred meters that cross a flat sloping meadow, a fertile pasture for cows or horses.[^] Once you reach a small abandoned building, old tool shed or shelter for animals, a small hill covered by a forest forces you to continue slightly to the left or right. On one map, the steep relief with stones is the Zucco del Canto del Brug 1097 meters high, 83 meters higher than the road in Brunino. A table for mountain bikes indicates Brunino on the left down. On the right they point to the usual yellow private sign Agriturismo Brunino cell. 339 67 18 395 and the ZacUp table with the red arrow, a short path that I described in the opposite direction, Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella.

In the woods up to the Brunino road at the small chapel

At the fork of the farmhouse, having chosen to go left, we leave the Valle dell'Acqua della Fredda for five minutes of fun up and down descents in a beech forest, between the rocks of the impervious relief on the right and the meadows cut by man with huts on the left. We see the light in Brunino again, where the carriage road that goes up from Pasturo arrives at the locality near a small chapel, which has figurines representing the Holy Family. Turning around from where we emerged, two wooden signs on a tree, Cornisella Pasturo, indicate the direction to take. They cannot miss, a Pedalling in the Park (of Northern Grigna) sign, which indicates Capp. Sacro Cuore 3 on the dirt road towards the center of the locality, and Agriturismo Brunino cell. 339 67 18 395 in the same direction.

Conclusion

Cornisella and Brunino are two places not far apart on the Northern Grigna, almost at the same altitude but with different landscapes. The destination of the old Brunino Refuge is attractive for those who pass through Cornisella like me. I follow the circular tour from Cornisella in a clockwise direction, arriving at the location at 1015 meters above sea level with the Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino to the chapel, which is shared with a small section of the one-way bike Itinerary 3, to enjoy the last meters on the flat, with the beautiful view of the farmhouse on the hill, the meadows, the scent of freshly cut hay, before a stop at the Agriturismo Brunino. I reserve the shortest route for the return, which starts at the first hairpin bend on the left of the road to Balisio right below the accommodation facility.

References

1. Mauro Vezzoli (30 June 2014- ). "Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino". [Google Photos Album]. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
2. Mauro Vezzoli. "Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino". [Flickr album]. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
3. Mauro Vezzoli (5 November 2022). "The view from the little church of Cornisella with the road to Brunino and the trail signs.". In Autunno, Chiesetta degli Alpini a Cornisella, Cornisella, Escursioni sul Grignone, Escursioni sulle Grigne, Escursionismo in montagna, Escursionismo in Valsassina, Itinerario Pedalando nel Parco 3 Bike tour della dorsale, Segnaletica dei sentieri della Grigna, Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
4. Mauro Vezzoli (2 July 2015). "In the same period last year and time, my excursion does not change, from Barzio to Brunino. From the village on the Valsassina plateau to the town on the Pasturo Mountains it takes less than an hour and a half of walking and running. It's sunny, the summer of 2015 is dry and hot just as the summer of 2014 was rainy and cool. Along the dirt road that leaves Cornisella a farmhouse before a bend.". In Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, Spinarolo. [Flickr photo]. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
5. Mauro Vezzoli (11 October 2023). "The two paths that divide at the crossroads under the white house of Spinarolo. Compared to 7 years ago, the arrow of the ZacUp mountain race in the direction of Brunino has been added to the zinc pole of the Pedalando nel Parco sign and further down in the meadow one of the Agriturismo Brunino.". In Autunno, Escursioni sul Grignone, Escursioni sulle Grigne, Escursionismo in montagna, Escursionismo in Valsassina, Itinerario Pedalando nel Parco 3 Bike tour della dorsale, Segnaletica dei sentieri della Grigna, Sentiero Colle di Balisio - Cornisella, Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, Spinarolo. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
6. Mauro Vezzoli (30 June 2014). "A few minutes after midday, the cows graze on the fertile sloping meadow along the path that leads from Cornisella to Brunino. La Grigna in summer is the ideal place for animals and hikers, even more beautiful on a splendid sunny day like today after the rain.". In Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, Spinarolo. [Flickr photo]. Retrieved 9 October 2023.