My summer on Grignone

Italiano

My summer on Grignone lasted until the end of the season, September was a hot month. I kept my promise to stay on the paths and locations of the blog. I reached Pialeral, my summit this year, just a few days ago, on the 13th of the month. Crazy summer of reading, writing, reading, writing, late into the evening! Phrases and words that wake me up at dawn the following morning. Of those who have actually walked the mountains during the day in search of freedom and well-being. The photos were the source for describing the route of the trails. A second part was missing, where they are located, who manages them, possibly anything else significant, which I undertook to fill. I felt like I was an honest worker of the Sentiero Pasturo - Pialeral. It was possible thanks to the new Lenovo Intel Core i7 computer equipped with Windows 10 which worked perfectly and to the Vodafone mobile network, fighting for every gigabyte consumed, with some small interruptions and requests for clarification from the company. I give thanks to God for the gifts and protection, may his holy Name always be praised and blessed.

As expected my pace has been slow, my back is not right and there is pain in my face and teeth which needs to be investigated. Much has changed in the blog, starting from the name in the two languages, in English Grignone in slope of Pasturo and in Italian Il Grignone nel versante di Pasturo, which now has an introduction. Grignone is also Grigna Settentrionale, Northern Grigna, Grigna, Pasturo mountains. I defined what a trail is and removed the numbering from the routes because they are the work of the Club Alpino Italiano, which is no longer involved in their management. The number 33 of the Sentiero 33 Pasturo - Pialeral remains imprinted on me, of which numerous horizontal trail signs remain on the mountain, as well as that of the tram line 33 that I took near home in Milan. The only route added is the short Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella, which closes the Brunino ring.

The protagonist of my summer holiday was the vertical signage of the bikes, which I cross numerous times and mark routes in common with mine. The red trail sign has the name Pedalando nel Parco (Pedalling in the Park) of the Lombardy Region Parks System, on the directional sign there is the Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino and Riviera Mountain Community logo. To go to Grigna from Barzio I pass in front of the head office at the bottom of the valley, near the Pioverna stream, in the Prato Buscante area. A world has opened up, I discover also that the Grigna Settentrionale has been a regional park since 2005! I find institutional and other information on the websites of the mountain community and Parco Grigna. More than a third of the over 5000 hectares of the Northern Grigna Regional Park is under special protection, including the Site of Community Importance IT2030001 Northern Grigna.

I didn't leave it out that the Grigna was the inspiration for Antonia Pozzi, the Milanese poet who stayed in Pasturo. The eighteenth-century villa was finally opened to the public, I visited the rooms, the study which remained as it was then, the garden, which can also be observed from the window where Antonia wrote. On the internal wall of the Church of the Alpini in Cornisella there is the emblematic verse of an internal conflict, Anima, sii come la montagna (Soul, be like the mountain), the first verse of the fourth stanza of the poem Examples. The nature, animals, birds, flowers, plants, rocks, remained outside of a specific topic.

At the the little church of Cornisella dedicated to Maria Regina Pacis I had the opportunity to participate in the mass and party held every year on the second Sunday of September organized by the local Pasturo local group of Alpini, on the anniversary of the inauguration of the Alpini chapel. I shot a wonderful video of over a minute of the flag raising. As a spectator who loves sport, I was present at the Alpe Cova finish line of the non-competitive running and cycling race Pasturo - Alpe Coa, on the fourth Sunday of July, and at the mass, among the people of Pasturo.

Like someone who committing all of himself to the goal he was focused on no longer has the strength or time for the rest, for the Grignone I neglected the mountains on the opposite side of the Pioverna valley, the mountains of Barzio, which I instead attended with continuity in the summer season seven years later. I will return to Valsassina on the feast of Sant'Ambrogio and sometimes in winter without writing any more posts, just as I will not do so next summer because are enough, and left over, the 16 articles from summer 2016.

Copyright © 2016 and 2023 Mauro Vezzoli

On Grignone again this summer

Italiano

It's mid-July, I'm returning to Valsassina in Barzio, in June I was only there a few days. Like previous years, I don't spend anything because my brother allows me to use his house for the holidays for free. My program is to walk on the Grignone from Pasturo as a healthy physical exercise in the open air, tread mule tracks, enjoy the cool mountain climate for a few hours in the heavy weather of the sun high on the horizon or in the hottest hours, protecting me with sun cream well spread on my skin, wearing a hat on my head and sunglasses, drinking. I will finally be in nature, free, light, in the fertile meadows, in the shade of the plants, listening to the cows, and I will take some meaningful photographs. Then, at the table, at work, on my new Lenovo laptop, reading the articles from the blog Grignone in the slope of Pasturo that I published last summer to review them. This commitment consoles me because I write about dear places and mountains and motivates me, prolonging the activity of going on trails. I discover that writing is a useful exercise in general, because it requires research, study, analysis; the outcome, remaining as a letter, has an indefinite future development. In me there is the sadness of the loss of my father, who on a morning at the end of July last year, just while I was at Pialeral, called me from the Manzoni Hospital in Lecco to request medical documentation for a final consultation on the tumor to the tonsil from which he suffered.

As in the last two seasons, since 2014, I begin my excursions with the same route, the first part can only be from Pasturo to Cornisella. From the church of the Alpini in Cornisella, the locality just over a thousand meters above sea level in a central position on the Grigna Settentrionale, I take the secondary path Sentiero Cornisella - Brunino, a common route for mountain bikes, marked with the new Pedalling in the Park trail signs. The recent signs prompted me to write a new post, signage of the trails, and add tags to my photos. On level ground and in a cooler climate I walk along the three houses of Spinarolo and in its scenic pasture. If it's lunch time, I stop to eat a first course at Agriturismo Brunino, the price is modest. From Barzio to Brunino, passing through Cornisella, it is a not too long and tiring excursion, round trip, it takes about two and a half hours with five hundred meters of altitude difference, I am not very fit, I would like to avoid having sore legs. Furthermore, I have not been well, the chronic pain in my back has been compounded by pain in my face and teeth, it is better to stay calm and covered. I return to Cornisella with the Sentiero Brunino - Cornisella.

Then, with a few kilometers in my legs, with the trail-running shoes and the faded red The North Face Animas 12 backpack on my shoulder, I'm ready for something more: again this summer I will climb to the thirteen hundred meters of Alpe Cova. Leaving the main mountain road, from Cornisella to Alpe Cova Valsassina opens up from above in its splendor with the Orobie mountains. On one of the benches in the Alp pond, lying in the shade of the trees, near the wooden crucifix, I will regain the strength lost from the climb and from my health, poorly cared for by the doctors and off-axis. Al fresco I will contemplate the Grigne. The non-competitive running and cycling race Pasturo - Alpe Coa is scheduled for Sunday 24 July, which I would like to attend, and participate in the mass, like four years ago.
For the subsequent walks and runs on Grignone, at zero cost to the environment because they start from home, my holiday plans to climb a little further, remaining within the paths and locations of the blog as if they were borders, to the Rifugio Antonietta and the basin of Pialeral. Until mid-September, more trained, I will have time to relax and repeat the routes between Pasturo and Pialeral numerous times.