Valle Gesso and the Maritime Alps

For a couple of years now my family and I have literally fallen in love with a beautiful valley, the VALLE GESSO, where we take refuge to escape the greyness and monotony of city life. In fact you don't need overseas trips to find peace with yourself and contact with nature in its truest, most authentic form: we found all of this just over a couple of hours' drive from Genoa. Our first encounter with this valley was a very demanding but truly unique hike; setting off from Valdieri we reached the Questa refuge, at 2,388 metres, after a few hours' walk.

I have wonderful memories of this long trek: above all the beautiful landscapes of the Valasco plain, a lovely valley of glacial origin that ends with the Savoy royal hunting lodge, now converted into a refuge, but the best came with gaining altitude, and indeed after a restorative break at the Questa refuge, continuing towards the lakes, we saw truly unique scenery. The intense blue of Lake Claus and Lake Valscura, in which these majestic peaks are mirrored; the granite colours of these mountains; the ibex; the paved sections of the military road built during the war and still walkable, as Giancarlo and I did. Up here the silence is so deafening that whenever you hear the slightest noise you turn around and realise you're not alone; indeed it's not unusual to come across chamois or marmots.

Surprisingly, we realised that the Maritime Alps are better known abroad than in Italy, and indeed on our treks we met many foreign tourists, so I'd like to recommend to anyone who loves the mountains as much as we do to spend at least a weekend around there: you'll see, you won't regret it!!!!! For overnight stays there's an embarrassment of choice; we opted for camping. There are several, and the ones we tried, Vallegesso and Il Bosco in Entracque, are both excellent and clean. Another hike that stayed in our hearts was the one to the Genova refuge and from there the climb to the Colle delle Finestrelle; if you're feeling a bit lazy, you can get most of the way to the refuge by bus: for times and fares you need to ask at the information points.

We set off from Lake Rovina, where there's a good car park and a paid picnic area; the climb is fairly demanding and steep, but once you're up there the view is stupendous. From the Colle delle Finestrelle you can descend to the Soria Ellena refuge and from there reach San Giacomo di Entracque and take the bus back to Lake Rovina. Another very well-known hike is the one to Lake Vey del Bouc; the name of this lake comes from an ancient legend that says the lake holds the remains of an old man who used to live in that spot with his billy goat. If you click on the links you'll find all the information you need; in any case, remember that maps and information material are handed out almost everywhere in the valley. Happy holidays to all, Chiara and Giancarlo