Celle – Stroppo

Celle di Macra Frazione Chiesa 1270 m – Ciatignano 1208 m – Aramola 1300 m – Bassura 927 m Frazione Arneodi di Stroppo 1074 m

A section that crosses Val Maira, mostly along ancient mule tracks, through hamlets that are still inhabited in the four municipalities of Celle, Albaretto, Stroppo and Elva.

From Fraction Chiesa you go down the mule track through the meadows to the Paschero village; here you enter the asphalt road for a short stretch, turn left onto a mule track to cut a hairpin bend, take the same road again and after 500 m you reach the houses of Matalia 1080 m. Of note in this stretch, in addition to the beauty of the villages, well preserved and with stone roofs, is the presence of numerous old fruit trees. You continue a few hundred meters on the road, you pass the bridge over the Tibert river at 1000 m above sea level and, immediately after the curve, you take the path on the left that passes under a characteristic portal; the path initially passes through woods and uncultivated land, then continues almost flatly through a beautiful beech forest (some of which are centuries old), passes upstream from the Chiottetto hamlet 1043 m and still on level ground reaches a hamlet road just before the Combe hamlet 1047 m which, as the name suggests, it is located at the bottom of the Rio Intersile comba, and where there is an ancient house with a “sail” facade; 1.15 hours. From Combe, with a short stretch of carriage road, you go up to Sagna 1096 m, the last village of Celle and then, with a steeper climb on a path between abandoned meadows with frequent votive chapels, you reach Ciatignano 1208 m, already in the territory of Albaretto , the church of Serremorello 1270 m, with its elegant Romanesque bell tower, and finally the village of the same name 1316 m, which offers a beautiful view of the wooded Intersile valley which opens towards the south. A final climb on a mule track, passing downstream from Cucchietto, finally leads to the top of the ridge, to the houses of Colletto 1410m (fountain near the chapel of S. Anna) located in a rather unusual position, precisely on a collar of the ridge that divides the Comba di Intersile from the Comba di Arămola towards which we head. To the east you can see the gentle meadow slopes on which the various villages of Celle stand; 1.15 hours. Having crossed the road that serves the village, take the mule track that descends towards the west with a gentle path through the beautiful coniferous forest and which at an altitude of 1319 reaches the bottom of the Comba di Aràmola, crosses it and quickly reaches, halfway up the flat slope, to the characteristic and still well preserved rustic houses of the almost united villages of Maurengo 1304 m and Aràmola 1300 m. You continue on the flat between lavender and beautiful flowers up to the hill on which the Chapel of the Madonna stands 1294 m; You then enter the fairly dense woodland of white fir trees and beeches with frequent undergrowth of raspberries which you walk along almost levelly until you overlook the Comba del Rio del Mezzogiorno. You then descend into the pine forest, quickly losing altitude, and reach the Rio del Mezzogiorno, which you cross, immediately turning right to follow it high above it: here a landslide for a few meters forces you to maneuver between lying trees and debris and then you enter a forest road.

Those following the itinerary in the reverse direction must be careful to take the path that starts from the left embankment of the road in a not very obvious way.

The road descends to the now nearby Maira stream, from where with a short climb it reaches Bassura di Stanto 927 m; 1.30 hours. On the main street, between the houses, take the beautiful mule track which towards the north, on a slightly rough and dry slope, crosses the carriage road and leads to Paschero 1087 m, home to the Municipality of Stanto; the parish church overlooks the square with the fountain, but much more interesting is the fourteenth-century Romanesque church of San Pietro 1233 m above, built on a rocky ridge (reachable with a 20 min. digression on the mule track). Follow the road briefly, then descend onto a road on the left to Borgata Arneodi 1074 m; 0.10 hours where the Locanda Al Torch Hotel Stopover is located.

​