Variant to the crest route of the GTL, this section leads to San Donato di Mango, offering history lovers one-off emotions.

Depart from Pavaglione, the farmhouse of Agostino and Tobia, the protagonists of “La Malora” written by Fenoglio, today cultural centre in which exhibitions and conferences are held, besides literary readings and days dedicated to Fenoglio. The hill of the Pavaglione is also one of the places of the civil war of 1943-1945, namely the stage where the majority of “Il Partigiano Johnny” is set, the great fresco of the Resistance that Fenoglio waited many years for and that, finally, came out posthumously and unfinished. The route that takes from Pavaglione and arrives to San Donato rebuilds what the protagonist deals with during one of his numerous escapes from the Nazi-Fascist roundups.

Passed the entrance of the Pavaglione, continue on the flat road to the nearby farmhouse, and then into the wood of sparse pines that descends between the valleys of the hills. Depart, with one of the most epic phrases of Fenoglio’s literature which, though much quoted, remains admirable for its essential perfection: “Partì verso le somme colline, la terra ancestrale che l’avrebbe aiutato nel suo immoto possibile, nel vortices del vento nero, sentendo come’e’ grande un uomo quando è nella sua normale dimensione umana…” ("He set out for the high hills, the ancestral land that would help him in his possible stillness, in the whirlwind of the black wind, feeling how great a man is when he is in his normal human dimension..."). After a few dozen metres, arrived at a junction, descend to the right through the vegetation, and before a clearing, descend again to the right into the wood. The dirt track continues downwards to reach a crossroads in the thick of the chestnut grove, where the route continues to the right (following the road to the left you reach the Aedicule of Chiarle). You will soon reach a last clearing, yet another abandoned cropland, dominated by the farmhouses of Serra dei Pini (to the left, that of a salmon colour) and Serra, lower to the right. Skirt the meadow to the right, on a less obvious trail, entering the wood again and going slightly uphill, a long stretch of the slope, characterised by a chestnut grove, to reach the Cascina Baracchi. In ruins, it still succeeds in communicating much about the hardness of life in the past.

Skirt the stone buildings and, after a short section of muddy trail because of the presence of numerous springs, the path becomes more obvious again. Before long, you will reach the dirt road that descends to the hamlet of San Bovo: follow it to the left, downhill, between the old fences of a sheep farm. Climb to the right at the first junction, and at the next one, unmistakable for a power line pole, and descend to the left. Continue for a steep section, staying on the more obvious track, until you come out from the vegetation close to a large meadow: right in front of you, on the hilltop, is the Church of Sant’Elena.

To reach it, turn left towards the nearby houses of Cascina Cascina: cross the wide courtyard and, immediately after the first house, turn right, following an obvious trail that descends into the poplar grove. Continue to the left, on flat ground, to go back down, between the thick vegetation, towards the valley bottom. Having reached in front of an obvious rock, with a last steeper and muddy section, which requires attention, you reach the rio of Sant’Elena. Passed the modest ford, climb the opposite slope of the valley with the trail overlooking the waterway, in a few exposed sections. Before long, you reach the croplands under the Signognia home and quickly reach a paved road: follow it to the left, for a few metres, as far as the junction for Sant’Elena; turn right and, always on a paved road, you reach the houses of the hamlet. Following the dirt track between the vine-covered terraces, with a last section in the vineyard you reach the church, on the top of the hill, in a position that dominates the Belbo Valley. Opposite, the profile of the village of Castino, forever engraved by this description of the roundup that took place: “Diciotto torri di fumo, compatto, inscuotibile anche da vento forte, sorgevano dal paese, senza movimento di uomini intorno agli stakes di quel fuoco gigantesco” (Eighteen towers of smoke, compact, unshakable even in strong winds, rose from the village, with no movement of men around the stakes of that gigantic fire).

You leave the church behind you and travel the road that, skirting the large vineyard, sinuously follows the crest of the hill, to climb, with a steep section, to the top of the ridge. Descend to the next hill and, abandoning the crest, turn right on the dirt track and lose altitude as far as the crossroads with a gravel road. Turn right again, descending to the Braida houses and, always on a gravel road, continue downhill on a long section in the wood. It is necessary to take a dirt track to the left, less obvious, which in the first section seems to want to return towards the head of the valley. The track loses altitude slowly: you abandon it for a trail, to the right, which allows to reach the valley bottom. The last section requires attention, for the slippery ground and for the narrowness of the trail.

Passed the Rio dell’Annunziata (ford), you are few metres away from the Rocca Croera, on a dirt track (which descending to the right would allow to reach the settlement of Rocchetta Belbo) and tackle the opposite slope of the valley with a trace of trail that climbs the steep slope, immersing itself in the thickness of the vegetation, to reach the ancient route, more obvious, which climbs between the pine trees, to the right. “Si rialzarono e mossero i primi passi verso l’alto. Facevano strada nel cuore del bosco, tra la vallata lacerata da sporadici spari e la cresta perfettamente silenziosa, a metà della grande collina. Camminavano nel bosco, in zone d’ombra sempre più cupe, nel crescendo del vento. (“They got up and took their first steps upwards. They made their way through the heart of the forest, between the valley torn by sporadic gunfire and the perfectly silent ridge halfway up the great hill. They walked through the woods, through increasingly dark shadows, as the wind picked up”).

Having reached a new and spectacular prominence, go around it climbing to the left, with a few exposed steps that exploit the rocky layers, to go past a deposit of materials and reach a paved road. Follow it to the left to a junction, where you climb to the right on the road that takes to Cascina Rocchetta and, with a more scenic route, to Cascina Croce. At the gate, climb into the vineyard to the left, untangling yourself between the headlands and reaching the top in the best possible way, where you climb again to the left on the wide dirt track that follows the ridge of the hill. Skirt the vineyard, with a very scenic section, and continue on the dirt track that climbs gently, keeping a little under the crest (leaving aside the roads that climb to the right) to follow a wide amphitheatre, magnificent in the flowering period of the numerous brooms.

After a bend, leave the road at the entrance to the courtyard of a farmhouse and then descend to the left on a trail that, having walked along a row of a small vineyard, reaches a paved road. You have to follow it to the right and, passed a pair of scenic bends, you quickly reach the crest in the area of Pian, skirting the homes between vineyards and hazelnut groves. Continue on the edge of the wide ridge, to the slopes of Bric di Badin. If you have time, leave the paved road again (which takes to San Donato) in a bend immediately after a junction to tackle, to the right, a steep dirt track that skirts a fence, heading for the top of the hill. The effort is worth it thanks to the scenery, boundless on the clearest days.

To reach the hamlet of San Donato it is necessary to follow, to the right, the flat ridge, with the trail that after having skirted a vineyard enters a wood of pine and juniper trees. A meandering descent and a last flat section allow to reach the Chapel of the Alpini, where the scenery opens up to the Lower Langa and the Alps. The houses of San Donato, hamlet of Mango, are approximately 1 km away. You reach them by descending on the road to the right and following a paved road. You fill your eyes with these hills which are now less wild, but always untamed, with a last memorable quote (this time from a “Una questione private”) that perfectly summarises the regret and resignation which, almost eighty years ago, assigned an ungrateful destiny to that generation of young men and women: “Le aveva sempre pensate, le colline come il natural teatro del suo amore, e gli era invece toccata di farci l’ultima cosa immaginabile, la Guerra. (He had always thought of the hills as the natural theatre of his love, and instead he had to do the last imaginable thing with it, the War).

The Routes of Fenoglio Mango : Castle of the Marquises of Busca , Regional Wine Shop of the Moscato Hills. San Donato di Mango : Memory House.

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