Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral (from Pasturo to Cornisella)

Italiano

Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral (from Pasturo to Cornisella) is a mule track that can be covered on foot in about 45 minutes from Pasturo to Cornisella with a difference in height of 400 meters, from 650 meters in the village of Valsassina to 1050 meters, on the Northern Grigna.[^][^] Cornisella is located approximately in the middle of the overall route, on the agricultural-forestry-pastoral road Pasturo - Alpe Cova and crossing of several paths. From Pialeral, the path continues to Brioschi Refuge, on the top of the mountain.

From Pasturo to Monteno

Leave Pasturo by taking in Via Alessandro Manzoni one of the following streets, Via Cantellone, Via Grigna, Via San Calimero or along the Cariola stream, the paths join a little further up. I go up to Via Cantellone, where at the intersection with Via Manzoni there are two arrow road signs on a brown background, Grigna Settentrionale (Northern Gigna) and Pialeral, and on a wall a horizontal sign 33, up to Cornisella there is no other sign 33. The numbering dates back to several years ago, when the paths of the Grigne were managed by the CAI.
Walking on the asphalt of Via Cantellone, on the right there are the last houses of the town and on the left you go along the wall of Villa Pozzi. After a few meters, at a half-bend to the left with a villa on the right, I see the white railing of a bridge over the Cariola stream and my heart begins to beat faster. Here is also a gate of the villa of the poet Antonia Pozzi, from which you can glimpse her garden, which can be seen as you descend. I take the cobbled mule track,[^] and I feel a strong emotion because I am going to Grigna. The stream is on the left, generally water flows. After less than a hundred meters, at a half-curve, there is a hut with two green shutters and on the right a large rather recent villa. The mule track joins that of Via Grigna and there is a wooden Pialeral sign towards the climb, you can't really go wrong.
First you meet on the left, a little hidden, a white three-storey house, Via Grigna 21, and on the right another, Via Grigna 30. A road sign indicates danger of falling rocks for no reason; it dates back to 1991, manufactured by i.s.o.v. road signs, acronym for Impresa Segnaletica Orizzontale Verticale. A sharp steep bend to the left, with a view of a hut with a sloping roof, leads to the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary at 739 meters; on two wooden signs, Pasturo down, Baiedo right.

You pass under the roof of the chapel, behind there is a well-kept and inhabited hut. You still cross a bridge over the Cariola stream, where there is a fountain with a concrete basin and a pipe that drains the water into the stream. On the stone we read a date, IX VIII XIII which could be 1913, and E F. I quench my thirst at the fountain, both uphill and downhill, for short distances I don't bring water even in summer, just I find it as far as Alpe Cova. You enter a stretch of slight slope, shaded and cool; you cross a small valley with a bridge, as the first has railings. At a hairpin bend, the water drops where there is a small abandoned farmhouse, continue along a stretch with dry stone wall only on the right up to the Monteno huts. On the left a group of houses and a dirt road that goes inside, on the right a yellow hut that will be perhaps a hundred years old, it belongs to the Invernizzi family. The mule track of the Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral climbs steeply with a concrete bottom until it crosses the agro-forestry-pastoral road Pasturo - Alpe Cova, which has a bend to the left. A Pasturo wooden sign indicates where you just got on.

From Monteno to Cornisella

At the bend of the agro-forestry-pastoral road to Alpe Cova, in Monteno there is a large and worn road sign of the Comunità Montana n° 16 Strada di Servizio, and a no parking sign, on both sides, instead the cars park. After the hairpin bend, on the right, a wooden sign Pialeral Brioschi points in the direction of a mule track with a concrete floor, but the motorbikes no as a road sign says, which dates back to 1985. The mule track is now cemented, as unfortunately happens too often on mountain trails, to make it easier for motorcycles or cars. The locality table Pedalando nel Parco (Pedalling in the Park) says that we are in Monteno 850 meters, the Cornisella 3 signpost for bicycles is in the direction of the road that continues straight, the same direction indicated by a flashy yellow sign Agriturismo Brunino. Next to it, there is one of the panels of the Mountain Community Between Geology and Landscape placed on the mountain not many years ago, entitled Geological aspects of the territory.[^]

Take the fork to the right, now go up decisively with a series of hairpin bends in a wood, the road is wide. At the end of the short steep section, the view opens to the left on a meadow, which has a white hut at the top, on the right a worked trunk to sit and under a hut with the view of the sunniest part of the Grignone. Continue among black hornbeams, chestnuts, ash trees, encountering on the left a ruin and a meadow with a cottage at the top, the bottom is made of larger stones. Without realizing it, because there is no indication that delimits it, you are entering the Northern Grigna Regional Park. Continue more uphill, in a S-shaped you are helped by horizontal trunks, then the last steep section. You come across a recent wooden sign that indicates Agriturismo Oneda upwards to the left, then another structure Between Geology and Landscape, whose topic is The forest where, why and how. The trees thin out, to the right, cows graze in the summer. Exit and left at a large stone hut with a basin, in low Cornisella.[^]

Continue with a moderate slope passing under the high voltage wires admiring the beautiful view of the Cornisella meadows where the Spinarolo's electricity pylon stands out in the background. Here the path is a dirt road, bordered on the left by a row of fruit trees, where I saw donkeys eating grass and sheltering from the sun. Traveled the last half curve on a slope, protected by a bollard pylon to prevent cars from getting off, we come to the Church of the Alpini Maria Regina Pacis at Cornisella and along Strada Pasturo - Alpe Cova. I drink at the fountain and whoever wants to can rest for a moment on the concrete seats of the church, as I see hikers doing. Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral follows the road that from Pasturo climbs to Alpe Cova for a few hundred meters, up to Acquafredda and Ponte dell'Acqua Fredda, before going up a mule track, part of the path I describe in from Cornisella to Alpe Cova.
At the intersection of the church, or the 'Alpini', the signage of the trails is heterogeneous and full of directions: path to Balisio (Sentiero Colle di Balisio - Cornisella), Pedaling in the Park of 3 for Brunino, which I describe in Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, both pass through Spinarolo. For the Valle dei Grassi Lunghi along the Valle dell'Acqua Fredda, the path is marked Pedaling in the Park 2 but in the opposite direction, a link towards Traversata Bassa.

Conclusion

Going up to Grigna from Pasturo means taking Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral, the first stretch from Pasturo to Cornisella is almost always in the shade and also has the function of connecting to other directions.From Cornisella, on the flat, you can reach Brunino or walk the Valle dell'Acqua Fredda for the Traversata Bassa, which continues up to Piani dei Resinelli, and downhill the Church of the Sacred Heart, which is located on the road to Balisio.

Despite its importance, the hiking trail is poorly managed or even abandoned by the institutions. In fact, the signs for the Pialeral are made up of improvised signs, the bottom without maintenance, the only works carried out are those that should not be done, that is to cement a mule track to favor the passage of one motorcycle. The presence of the Mountain Community of Valsassina is distinguished by bike paths and some didactic panels.
I no longer count the times I have walked the Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral up to Cornisella.[^] In recent years, I start from Barzio and stay at a low altitude, stopping at the Alpe Cova lake or turning for Brunino.

References

1. Mauro Vezzoli (7 April 2006- ). "Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral (da Pasturo a Cornisella)". [Google Photos album]. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
2. Mauro Vezzoli (7 April 2006- ). "Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral (da Pasturo a Cornisella)". [Flickr album]. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
3. Mauro Vezzoli (9 July 2015). "The straight, slightly sloping path at the beginning of the Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral with the stones of the mule track.". In Escursioni sul Grignone, Escursioni sulle Grigne, Escursionismo in montagna, Escursionismo in Valsassina, Estate, Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral, Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral (da Pasturo a Cornisella). [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
4. Mauro Vezzoli (28 October 2021). "Signs at the Monteno crossroads and panel Between geology and landscape. The pretty yellow table marked the CAI for the Pialeral and the Northern Grigna that was there years ago has become a lot of stuff. Pedaling in the Park marks a path for bikes along the road that climbs towards Cornisella, the same direction as Agriturismo Brunino complete with a mobile phone. For the Pialeral there is a wooden sign worn by the years, placed by some private individual, which indicates the direction that the hiker who goes to Grigna must follow, which certainly does not comply with the regulations of mountain signs. Next to it is one of the panels Between geology and landscape of the Mountain Community, bulky and not aesthetic.". In Autunno, Escursioni sul Grignone, Escursioni sulle Grigne, Escursionismo in montagna, Escursionismo in Valsassina, Itinerario Pedalando nel Parco 3 Bike tour della dorsale, Monteno, Segnaletica dei sentieri del Grignone, Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral, Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral (da Pasturo a Cornisella). [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
5. Mauro Vezzoli (8 September 2016). "The beautiful view when you exit the path to Cornisella with the stone hut, which alone is worth a climb from Pasturo. In the background, a half-ruined hut has become a modern mountain hut.". In Cornisella, Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral, Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral (da Pasturo a Cornisella). [Flickr photo]. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
6. Mauro Vezzoli (5 July 2015). "Mauro at half past three on the path to the Pialeral. The particularly hot beginning of July 2015 did not stop my ascents in the mountains.". In Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral. [Facebook photo]. Retrieved 28 October 2021.