GTA: Stage 56 Bassura di Stroppo - Borgata Chiesa di Celle di Macra

Highlights and tour details

From Bassura di Stroppo you go down to cross the Maira stream on a wooden bridge near an old mill and take the left going up diagonally along a wide cart road. Leaving a fork on the right towards the hamlet of Marmora, take a path that bends to the left and descends towards the sunken floor of the Rio del Mezzogiorno. Once past the ford, go up the hairpin bends on the opposite side in the beech wood and follow a long uphill stretch that cuts through a series of ridges and little valleys until you reach the grassy hillock where the chapel of the Madonna (1301 m) stands, a beautiful panoramic point with a view of the little village of Camoglieres and the parish church of Macra. Continue on the flat road heading north and, ignoring a fork on the left that descends towards the Máira valley floor, proceed along the main path, first crossing the village of Aramola with its many dilapidated buildings, and then immediately after, the village of Maurengo, which has been entirely restructured with a chapel dedicated to St. Bartholomew Bartolomeo. A short distance above Maurengo is the village of Palent, where you will find a restaurant, rooms to rent and a stop-offpoint. Once past the Chapel you proceed through a mixed deciduous wood cutting the entire Comba di Aramola watershed along the hillside. After crossing the stream on the right side of the river, proceed along the hillside in a dense spruce grove and with a steep final climb you reach the village of Colletto (1414 m) with a fountain and a pretty chapel dedicated to St. Anna. From here you walk through the village on a grassy path and then take a convenient mule track that cuts through the wooded slope to the Serremorello village below (1307 m). You continue to descend, coming across a short stretch of asphalt road and then return on a path that continues steeply with short hairpin bends as far as the parish church of Albaretto below. Just below the square of the church there is a grassy cart road (heading towards the village of Garino). Following it in a short downhill traverse you reach the houses of Chiatignano (1184 m). Leave the village on the left and at the hairpin bend of the cart road below the built-up area continue on the right along a flat mule track through the woods, pass an abandoned house and finally reach a panoramic hillock with a votive shrine. From here you take a downhill traverse and then start to descend on a path with uneven terrain with numerous turns between steep vertical rock walls to the village of Sagna. From here you take the road and cross a stream and reach the village of Combe. Leave the fork to the right for Colle Intersile, pass by the beautiful Chapel of San Martino and cross the Bedale Intersile. Once past the hamlet, take a short stretch of asphalt road and then take a path that continues flat along the wood cutting across the low slopes of Monte Verme. Along the way you will see two remarkable frescoed shrines and with a series of ascents and descents you reconnect to the road near the bridge over the Bedale Tibert. Once over the bridge, proceed on a mule track that is parallel and above the present asphalt road and then pass the villages of Rio and Mattalia. Continue along the mule track that crosses the asphalt road in some points, then leaving Bassura on the right and after going through the village of Paschiero, you reach the village of Chiesa with the stage stop-off point.

Other information

Itinerary code: GPS
Provinces crossed: Cuneo

Departure, arrival and municipalities crossed

Departure

Bassura di Stroppo
12020 Stroppo (CN)
Cuneo

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Arrival

Borgata Chiesa
12020 Celle di Macra (CN)
Cuneo

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Cuneese