Spinarolo

Italiano

Spinarolo is a tiny plot of land with three inhabited huts, a fertile pasture and a pylon on the Grignone at just over a thousand meters above sea level in the municipality of Pasturo in Valsassina at the top of a slope of the Cold water Valley about a hundred meters away from Cornisella.[^][^] The huts are along a flat dirt road passable by car which branches off from the main road of the Pasturo - Alpe Cova mountain in front of the Church of the Alpini at Cornisella. Numerous peripheral mountain paths and routes pass through the locality, whose name is unknown to most. Google Translate translates Spinarolo from Italian to English as Dogfish!

The three huts and the mountain pasture

Traveled perhaps one hundred meters from the Alpine crossing along the gravel road in the space of the two wheels of a car and grass in between, ideal terrain for the hiker because he can choose where he prefers to place his feet, first you come across a stone house in an excellent position because it overlooks two sides, the imaginary border of Cornisella, then Baita Caterina, on the left, like all the other buildings. The name is written on a wooden board. The cabin is made up of two old adjacent buildings, the external part is sheltered by a shed equipped with tables and chairs, hanging there are agricultural cart wheels and flower pots. The garden is lawned, protected by a wooden fence and barking dogs,[^] a sign warns of video surveillance. The owners, who perhaps live there all year round, park their car on the other side of the road. The view opens towards the south onto the Valle dell'Acqua Fredda with the Zucco di Desio behind it, not bad.

A few more meters, we arrive at Baita de Spinarol mt. 1030, painted yellow, also identifiable by a wooden plaque, with the altitude.[^] The r of Spinarol, the name in Pasturese or Valsassinese dialect, has two dots above it, an umlaut. I can't type this particular r with my keyboard, nor copy it from the Internet. Above the table and two windows there is a fresco with the white snow, in the foreground a deer, behind the profile of the Northern Grigna. On the opposite side of the building, the fresco of the Madonna of the Belt with the Child in her arms. The origins of the devotion to the Madonna of the Belt is ancient and has multiple traditions and meanings, which spread starting from the Middle Ages; in Pasturo found fertile ground among the Christians who dedicated a church to her in the center of the town. Going steeply down a few meters along the grassy road but cemented for two wheels, the last house in Spinarolo, white in colour, outside there are swings, above a small vegetable garden. Between the two huts, on the hill stands an Enel pylon, number 91, of a network that cuts across the entire mountain at more or less this altitude, from which the passage of electricity can be felt.

The road becomes a path that crosses a fork, taking a few meters uphill on the left to a sloping meadow where cows and horses graze, the small and splendid Alpe di Spinarolo.[^] It is framed by an abandoned farmhouse and a relief less than one hundred meters high covered with trees, the name should be Zucco del Canto del Brug, 1097 meters maximum altitude, behind which is Brunino.

Paths and signs in Spinarolo

Paths pass through Spinarolo, because the place is located between Cornisella and Brunino, and between Balisio, or rather between the Valle dei Grassi Lunghi at the Cappella del Sacro Cuore, and Cornisella. The two directions cross a few meters below the white house. But in the mountains you don't just go on foot or running, because some paths are suitable for bicycles, which overlap with names and signages. On the Grignone, for mountain bikes there is the professional signage of Pedalando nel Parco, that is, cycling in the Northern Grigna Regional Park, while hikers have to settle for rare wooden signs, positioned by good-hearted private individuals, as if for the Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino and Riviera Mountain Community in the low mountains you could only go by bike:

• for the Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, which can be covered in fifteen minutes on foot, hikers can no longer find anything because even the last Brunino wooden sign at the crossroads for Balisio has disappeared! A few meters later, on the trunk of a tree, a Cornisella wooden one is for those who follow it in the opposite direction.
• Sentiero Colle di Balisio - Cornisella, the old 31A path of the Italian Alpine Club, which no longer deals with the Grigna, about 20 minutes uphill from the Chapel of the Sacred Heart where the cars park. A Balisio wooden table is on the opposite side of the road along the last house of Spinarolo and an arrow under the intersection for Brunino-for Balisio.
• Itinerary 3 Bike tour of the ridge passes through Spinarolo, in fact in the signposts next to Brunino there is 3 for this reason; the itinerary is one-way. The first vertical sign is at the crossroads of the path to Balisio, and indicates Brunino on the left, blue dot, medium difficulty route. The other is near the dilapidated farmhouse with the collapsed roof and the open door beyond the cattle pasture. The indication is to go slightly to the left downhill, because the itinerary goes to Brunino for the Chapel of the Holy Family at the entrance to the locality from Pasturo.[^]
• For the Agriturismo Brunino, at the crossroads of the path to Balisio, there is an upward arrow on the lawn, because the route is in common with the Cornisella - Brunino path and the bike path from Cornisella to the mountain pasture. After the pasture, a yellow sign is at the crossroads, Agriturismo Brunino cell. 339 67 18 395 on the right (bikes go on the left), a short route that I described coming from the farmhouse-refuge as Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella.
• I warned you in the incipit of the article that numerous routes pass through Spinarolo. Here the ZacUp participants run, an arrow has been added on the zinc pole of Pedalando nel Parco at the intersection that goes down to Balisio in the direction up towards the meadow, and one at the intersection for the two directions for Brunino, in the direction of the agriturismo.

Note

1. Mauro Vezzoli (30 June 2014- ). "Spinarolo". [Google Photos album]. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
2. Mauro Vezzoli. "Spinarolo". [Flickr album]. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
3. Mauro Vezzoli (2 July 2015). "Baita Caterina in Spinarolo and small black dog barking. The house is almost always inhabited.". In Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, Spinarolo. [Flickr photo]. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
4. Mauro Vezzoli (30 June 2014). "Continuing on the flat from Cornisella and before a descent, here is a yellow house with a fresco, the Baita de Spinarol. Spinarol has an umlaut on the letter r, which is two dots above the consonant, which I can't type on my computer keyboard. Behind the house, on the hill, a trellis.". In Baite del Grignone, Chiesetta degli Alpini a Cornisella, Cornisella, Escursioni sul Grignone, Escursioni sulle Grigne, Escursionismo in montagna, Escursionismo in Valsassina, Estate, Itinerario Pedalando nel Parco 3 Bike tour della dorsale, Sentiero Colle di Balisio - Cornisella, Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
5. 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 11 October 2023.
6. Mauro Vezzoli (14 October 2023). "The vertical bike signs at the abandoned farmhouse at the fork of the two paths to Brunino. On the left down for the bikes, whose itinerary 3 in this section coincides with the Cornisella - Brunino path to the chapel. To the right goes the ZacUp run and the shortest route to the Brunino farmhouse.". 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 del Grignone, Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella, Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 14 October 2023.