Fraction Fondo Traversella – Alpe Cavanne, Fraction Scalaro, Quincinetto

Fondo 1074 m – Succinto 1164 m – Piani di Cappia 1339 m – Alpe Chiaromonte 2014 m – Cresta q. 2100 circa – Bivio q. 1550 – Alpe Cavanne 1384 m

Suggestive stage that goes from the beautiful villages of Valchiusella up to the summer pastures, crossing the watershed ridge with the Dora Baltea on a wide grassy ridge.

From the center of the village of Fondo, take the mule track that runs along and then always climbs up the left orographic side of the Chiusella, crosses the Rio Mares (beautiful waterfall during the thaw) and reaches the village of Lasassio 1101 m; then the path descends slightly, crosses a stream and ascends halfway up the slope to the two villages that form Succinto 1164 m. (The place is wonderful, a balcony overlooking the valley with the houses in the sun and the Renaissance church which preserves frescoes by Vizzetti di Montanaro and paintings by Stomone from Ivrea). From Succinto, do not follow the mule track that descends from the valley floor but, just beyond the second village, take the mule track that at a crossroads descends in a north-east direction along the sides of the small valley formed by the Tarva river, until reaching it at a small wooden bridge . Then the mule track climbs steeper into the woods on the opposite bank, with long stretches of stone steps, and reaches the village of Cappia 1179 m (another suggestive location). Here too, ignore the mule track that goes down to the valley floor, and take the one that goes up to the so-called Piani di Cappia 1339 m, 2.00 hours, magnificent panoramic point. (Here behind the Cappelletta del Piano, in a meadow where a steep slope begins, next to a birch, an anthropomorphic figure is engraved on a flat rock.

Leave the path to Traversella on the right and go up to the left in a wide circle, through steep pastures, touching the Binelli and Civetto Alps, built with unusual accuracy for these places.

We quickly gain altitude, and the whole of the upper Valchiusella increasingly opens up to view with the unmistakable silhouette of Monte Marzo in the background: 700 meters below us the Cappia plains, on the right Succinto with the large white church and the bold Bell tower. Opposite on the slopes of Palit, the Cantoncello hamlet, now abandoned as a permanent settlement.

Losing less altitude you reach a wide grassy ridge; you exit the high valley of the Rio Chiara continuing on a thin flat path that crosses the Viasca valley with a view of a large part of the valley and the Canavese plain. Going slightly downhill you reach the Chiaromonte mountain pasture at 2014 m; 2.40 hours. Along a wide path you climb in 0.15 hours to the wide watershed ridge with the Dora Baltea. Through pastures you then descend to Alpe Valbona 1754 m and then to Alpe Pietra Bianca. You come across a crossroads at an altitude of 1550 m, and turn east (left), cross a stream, go down to Alpe Cavanne and to the Stopover Agritourisme le Huts 1384 m 1.15 hours.

The Scalaro hamlet not far from the stopping place is in a magnificent position sheltered from the winds and safe from avalanches, a rare example of an almost intact Alpine village. Its foundation must be very ancient, tradition has it that it occurred by Valchiusellesi as the memory is still alive that the dead were brought to Traversella through the Pian del Gallo pass; Bertolotti wrote that it was a fiefdom of the Merle brothers of Lessolo in 1566. The church, dedicated to San Quirico and Santa Giuditta, dates back to 1731 while the bell tower dates back to 1761. Every year, sponsored by the priors of the church, a festival takes place in the month of July, with great participation of the inhabitants of Quincinetto. From Scalaro, an interesting excursion to a prehistoric station with various engraved boulders, on the slopes of Bee Renon at an altitude of 1950, probably a place of worship for the Ligurian people.