GTL - Grande Traversata delle Langhe - Stage 15: Cravanzana

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Highlights and tour details

Short uphill section which takes us from the hazelnut hills to those of mushrooms and truffles, immersed between history, which is never missing in these villages, and the truest nature.

Cravanzana is actually the town of hazelnuts, even if, like in the coat of arms, the etymology recalls goats. It preserves the most beautiful castle of the entire Valle Belbo, partly because many have been destroyed, and partly because it is truly monumental. It is private but open for visits on several occasions, such as “Castelli Aperti”. The current shape is partly the result of 17^th century renovations that transformed it into a more comfortable residence, with park/garden for the Marquises Fontana, exponents of the new Savoy aristocracy that took over from that of the Aleramic and Monferrato aristocracy of Del Carretto and Scarampi. Cravanzana is one of the few villages without notable country chapels, but it preserves a truly considerable architectural unit, especially on the south side, where the levels of houses rise as far as the imposing castle and the two churches (parish and confraternity), in a compact body of rare architectural coherence.

You can wander among the narrow streets of the village, and exit southwards in via Ferrera, then, resume the dirt road keeping right. At the first junction turn left, uphill into the wood up to a farmhouse. Keep right and at the next farmhouse cross the yard to continue on a cart track that crosses the paved surface and continues on the ridge to Case Codin. Here, continue left on the paved surface for a short section to Cascina Cattivo, from where you take the dirt road of the ridge of Bricco del Sole until the roundabout of the settlement of Feisoglio, the third village of the Upper Valley.

Resting on a soft saddle of the right ridge of the Belbo, Feisoglio overlooks Serravalle (Villa to be precise), like Niella watches over Bossolasco and Cravanzana over Arguello and Cerretto. The village, very lengthened, is laid out parallel to the big Parish church of San Lorenzo that dominates it, in the same way that the castle a little further south must have done, of which only a few stones remain, now downgraded to retaining walls, yet another destruction of the 17th century wars.

Around the village, the woods reign supreme, both wild ones of mushrooms, truffles, boars and roe deers, and tidy ones of hazelnut trees that are now as popular as the vineyards in Nebbiolo in Lower Langa. Feisoglio preserves this atmosphere of yesteryear, especially if you go along its narrowest streets, continuing until the church balcony, with the elegant confraternity that acts as a backdrop to the fragrant and fertile valley.

Attractions

Cravanzana : Fontana Castle. Feisoglio : Parish Church of San Lorenzo .

Other information

Source: Unione Montana Alta Langa
Itinerary code: GTL
Recommended period: Apr - Nov
Access by public transport: Yes
Classification: Medium and low mountain provincial
Provinces crossed: Langhe Monferrato e Roero