23/01/2025: RIVA VALDOBBIA - ALPE LARECCHIO
Another repeated "pilgrimage"... due to the great beauty of this plain at 1900 m above sea level. By car as far as possible, on weekdays there is a place at Ca' di Janzo, otherwise earlier, and then continue on foot. The road, which decades ago was a mule track already between the Janzo huts, is now asphalted up to Ca' S.Antonio, but at times the old path runs just above the road and allows for a more natural walk. Just below the Peccia, a small lake invites you to stop, then Peccia always offers impressive views, as well as, just beyond the last huts, at the top of a short climb, the Oratory of San Grato, 1529 m, with a plaque in memory of Giacomo Clerino, first custodian of the Sottile Hospice, who died here under an avalanche in 1870. Continue across the Napoleonic bridge and go up on the right, touching the Montata huts and higher up the chapel of the Madonna del Lancone. A few hundred meters follow until in the larch scrub, at around 1800 m altitude, the signs invite you to go up on the left (if you continue straight you would go to Sottile) and after ten minutes the magnificent "oasis" of the Larecchio plain reveals itself to our eyes , and from here the desire to take photos suddenly increases.
The trip in August is an immersion in greenery, in mid-late October an explosion of red-golden colours.
The farm is open in summer, managed by the family. Carmellino, the father was custodian of the Sottile from 1954 to 1991 (the Carmellinos are mentioned by Alessandro Orsi in his book on the history of the Hospice), and now he is here too. It's a shame not to be able to share the scents of the cuisine too... An obligatory ritual is to travel around the entire plain to the lake, just hidden by a morainic remnant, not forgetting to admire, albeit in the distance, the Corno Bianco and to look for more below the old Rissuolo refuge and the new refuge. Famine at Alpe Pile, semi-hidden but identifiable, the photos of which are in my review of Corno Bianco.
Some chamois and ibex also appeared to me, always on the Corno side. A small pair of binoculars is invaluable here!
You no longer feel tired here, just a bit of sadness comes over you when the watch advises you to start descending.
I found slides from 30 years ago taken from above, I took off on a paraglider from the Ospizio Sottile, I passed over the Larecchio vertically, I remember it as a beautiful experience.
01/09/2024: Everything is excellent, a relaxing place, the meals are excellent and all with natural products, Flavia and Osvaldo with their daughters manage everything with attention and friendliness towards the customers
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