Crissolo – Pian Melzé (Pian della Regina)

Crissolo Frazione Villa 1318 m – Pian Melzé (Pian della Regina) 1714 m

From Piazza Umberto I in the Villa di Crissolo hamlet, follow the carriage road to Pian del Re for a few meters. At the first tomante, take a path on the left marked with comfortable grassy steps which climbs towards the west, and shortly leads to the church of the Serre 1398 hamlet. m. You cross the village towards the mountain reaching a small square with a fountain beyond whose western side the road, now asphalted, turns right (north) and after passing the town you reach a curve near a votive pillar. You leave the asphalted path ( which turns right) to follow the path on the left which enters a narrow passage between a rustic house and a wall of stacked stones. Once past the buildings, you join a dirt track (which has destroyed the old historic path for a long stretch) and follow it as it conveniently winds through a lush broad-leaved forest (about halfway along the path you take a hairpin bend back onto the old path cobbled). Still going uphill slightly, you reach an aqueduct hut from where the dirt road rises up onto the asphalt road, which goes towards Pian del Re, near Serre Uberto, an interesting hamlet of Crissolo located on a hill at an altitude of 1534 m; 0.40 hours. From here, follow the path of the carriage road until it enters the valley comb of a small stream that descends from the Sea Bianca area. Near the bridge, a dirt track branches off to the left, slightly downhill, which then goes up the valley towards the west, running in an area of pastures and flowery meadows dotted with partly ruined huts (meire) reaching a crossroads: here you go up towards the west along the path which has become grassy and runs between outcrops of limestone rocks, rich in karstification, and between deposited boulders

For those following the itinerary in the opposite direction, be careful not to continue the descent along the obvious track that goes down to a bridge over the Po

With a more strenuous climb you reach the asphalt road again which you cross to go up to the Meire Giaromba above, 1598 m, a lovely group of rustic buildings overlooking the valley towards Crissolo. After the meire the mule track crosses the road again and climbs steeply up a ridge full of white limestone outcrops, thus entering the Costa Bella in view of Pian Melzè. The mule track, often paved and flanked by fixed stones, passes through some meire and passes near enormous boulders, crossing a pleasant pasture area. Before reaching a group of houses (buildings on Pian Melzè, 1714 m) you leave the mule track and go up to the right to reach the asphalt road near the hairpin bend, where the Pian Della Regina  Refuge Stopover is located 0.50 hours.