Fraction Arneodi di Stroppo – Elva, Fraction Serre

Frazione Arneodi  Stroppo 1074 m –Ciamino 1339m – m Colle Bettone 1881 m – Elva Borgata Serre 1637 m

From the Arneodi Fraction, past the houses, a beautiful mule track descends to cross the Rio di S. Giuliano on an elegant stone bridge, with an old mill and a forge nearby. The mule track climbs towards the west with steep hairpin bends cut into the rugged rocky ridge: after about a quarter of an hour there is a crossroads and you go right, reaching a panoramic saddle near the Rocca del Papa. You go up further, touching the houses of Ciamino 1339 m, and then the first houses of Contà, 1412 m and 1438 m, where there is a mountain pasture and you meet the Strop-Elva carriage road. Once you have crossed the road, you go up to the middle of the village, above which the ancient mule track branches off and goes up towards the west, bordered by dry stone walls and hazel bushes. You then cross the pastures with a path that you follow on level ground for a few tens of meters towards the north, and then starts climbing again towards the west into the larch forest. After passing by a water intake, follow the cattle tracks northwards, thus arriving under the carriage road (trough) which you cross at a hairpin bend. Still on the path you come to another bend in the road and after a stretch among the larches you cross the carriage road for the last time. We now continue on the cart track (built during the works for an aqueduct, it coincides with the old mule track) which goes up to Colle Bettone 1831 m, from which you have a beautiful view of the villages of Svolto and the Elva valley; 2.30 hours.From the hill the cart track descends slightly and then continues flat halfway up the hill: a few hundred meters after the hill you leave the steep trail of the aqueduct on the right, to continue on the wide flat path which in a wide semicircle cuts through the cliffs of Comba Intergiorno (Anterjourn) which descend steeply into the Elva valley below. With a short climb you reach Colle San Giovanni 1872 m, with a characteristic circular chapel. Beyond it opens the Elva basin, with villages, meadows and pastures, in contrast with the wild environment of the Intergiorno comba. The path descends into the larch forest until beyond the Arsizza fountain (font Arsisso) 1778 m, thus coming into view of the villages of Isaia (CoIzio) and Goria (Gorio). Just before Isaia, follow the forest road for a short stretch, then abandon it to follow the path towards the valley that leads to Mattalia (Co di Matalio) 1661 m. A short stretch on the road leads to the capital, Serre, 1637 m, 1.00 hour.

Elva (Elvo) is the name of the entire municipality, spread across around twenty villages, many still almost intact, where however the damage caused by abandonment far exceeds that caused by the so-called “civilisation”. The capital is the hamlet of Serre, where there is a splendid fourteenth-century Romanesque church and the Hotel Locanda di San Pancrazio stopover.

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