Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella

Italiano

The Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella is a flat trail that connects the two places of Grignone in Pasturo in a quarter of an hour's walk, at just over 1000 meters above sea level, going around a mountain peak. The path begins a little hidden at the first bend in the road that goes from the Agriturismo Brunino down to the Sacred Heart Chapel and Balisio.[^][^] It is not marked by the bodies that manage or have managed the mountain paths, Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino and Riviera Mountain Community and Club Alpino Italiano. For the path from Brunino to the chapel, where the road comes from Pasturo, to Spinarolo and Cornisella, you should instead read Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, described in the opposite direction. The two routes that start from different places in Brunino join together after about 5 minutes of walking.

From the first bend in the road to the intersection with the other Brunino path

From the center of Brunino, where the farmhouse and Cascina Margherita are located, at the first bend on the left of the road that goes down, on the right a path goes into the woods towards the west, an old yellow sign among the trees indicates it for three indications with terminology uncommon (or grammatical error): Cornicella (i.e. Cornisella) Pialleral (two l's instead of one) S. Calimero.[^]

The dirt and sufficiently wide path opens after a curve towards the Cold Water Valley, the trees thin out. Here you can see beautiful flowers, in summer daisies,[^] martagon lilies, and then cyclamens, crocuses. I don't even have time to reflect on the beauty of nature that enlivens the hiker's path, when the houses of Spinarolo are already in sight. At a dilapidated farmhouse, you cross the Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, marked by a signpost of the Pedalling in the Park route on a metal pole like 3 for Brunino on the right downhill, which arrives at the opposite end of the locality, we from the agriturismo, bikes or those who follow it to the chapel of the Holy Family. Halfway up the same pole, a ZacUp signpost and a yellow Agriturismo Brunino cell. 339 67 18 395 sign point in the direction we came from.

From the crossroads to the abandoned farmhouse in Cornisella

At the abandoned farmhouse where the perpendicular path crossed, on the right the bike trail sign for Brunino, on the left nothing, where the Grigna Settentrionale rises in the background. We are expert enough not to be mistaken in believing that we go to Cornisella on the left. My description of the route becomes lighter because there is one in the opposite direction on the Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino. However, each route in the two directions offers a different experience.

On the flat you continue across a meadow, fenced in summer by a wire, where horses with white and brown piebald coats, or all brown, a beautiful mane and tail,[^] or cows graze. There is a house with swings in the garden and a giant electricity pylon on the hill. Going down a few meters, on the trunk of a tree Cornisella finally appears on a wooden arrow in our direction of travel, while at a crossroads you leave the path on the left that goes down to Balisio. A bike trail sign points where we come from, as does the ZacUp table. You go up along the white house, on the flat you pass in front of a yellow hut and the Baita Caterina where a dog barks at you and chases you. The gaze goes to the Church of the Alpini and to the Grigna Settentrionale on a dirt road with grass in the middle. A double hairpin bend with other indications leads us to the Cornisella intersection with the Pasturo - Alpe Cova road.

Conclusion

Even a short track, like the path to Spinarolo which branches off in Brunino at the first bend of the road to Balisio, unknown to the official signages, it's enough to excite for those who frequent the Northern Grigna Regional Park. At the path intersection with a bike trail sign near an abandoned farmhouse, turn left towards Cornisella. In the opposite direction, the route is a small part of the ZacUp mountain race.

References

1. Mauro Vezzoli (3 August 2004- ). "Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella". [Google Photos Album]. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
2. Mauro Vezzoli. "Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella". [Flickr Album]. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
3. Mauro Vezzoli (8 December 2015). "One of the most frequent excursions in recent years is undoubtedly the Barzio - Pasturo - Alpe Cova, which in the end takes about 3 hours. Returning to the town where I spend many days of the year, especially in summer, at the little Regina Pacis chapel I sometimes deviate for Brunino, making a circular tour, always in the same direction, clockwise. I then arrive in Brunino along the path that emerges near the road that goes up from Pasturo where there is a small chapel with some statues, I continue towards the farmhouse or refuge. Going down a few meters along the road to the Church of the Sacred Heart, among the plants stripped by the beginning of winter, a yellow sign Cornicella Pialleral Calimero and the path.". In Brunino, Segnaletica dei sentieri della Grigna, Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella. [Flickr photo]. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
4. Mauro Vezzoli (2 July 2015). "Path along the Acqua Fredda Valley between Spinarolo and Brunino with bunches of daisies. Being in nature, among plants and colorful flowers, is one of the reasons that lead you to visit the mountains.". In Escursioni sul Grignone, Escursioni sulle Grigne, Escursionismo in montagna, Escursionismo in Valsassina, Estate, Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella. [Google Photos photo]. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
5. Mauro Vezzoli (30 July 2015). "Three horses at Spinarolo in the Northern Grigna Regional Park.". In Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella, Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, Spinarolo. [Flickr photo]. Retrieved 16 October 2023.