GTL - Grande Traversata delle Langhe - Stage 16: Feisoglio - Niella Belbo | Lake Maggiore, Lake Orta, Lake Mergozzo and Ossola Valleys

Loading...

Highlights and tour details

This short route travels between the villages of Feisoglio and Niella Belbo and coincides with the route of the Bar to Bar, for which we ask you to pay special attention to the signage, to follow the track you have chosen. Perhaps you think you are lost, but that is not the case! Simply this corner of the land is simply so beautiful that it has been included in two different routes!

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. Feisoglio preserves this atmosphere of yesteryear, especially if you go along its narrowest streets, until the church balcony, with the elegant confraternity that acts as a backdrop to the fragrant and fertile valley.

Passed the village on a paved road, go left at the first junction (signposted), along a road that after a short while becomes a dirt track and continues to the right. Climb a little more inside the wood, before emerging on flat ground, watershed between the valleys in an open field. The sea air (the so-called “marin”) will ruffle our hair, filling our nostrils with Mediterranean aromas.

After about 2 km, turn left and, after a short descent, immediately go right, almost in a “U” shape, again on gravel, to take us back among vegetable gardens and meadows on the panoramic crest. Continue until the next paved road where you go straight on towards the “Spianata dell’Amore” which is not a meeting place for couples, but the memory of a medieval legend with the courageous knight Leone (we are on Mount Leone after all) who fell in love with a local peasant girl; this place was the theatre of their love. This proves the good taste of the medieval troubadours in choosing the places! The flat area, in fact, opens to the four winds and is embellished by a big bench by the designer Chris Bangle, which allows to appreciate the landscape even more at 360°.

The Church of San Giovanni, in severe stone from Langa, awaits us at the last bend, and we descend gently to the right to the village of Niella Belbo.

Niella shares the destruction of the castle during the 17th century with the other villages of the right slope (with however the considerable exception of Cravanzana). Despite the loss of the fortress, the village preserves several important remains of the medieval past that can give an idea of how the village was equipped by the Del Carretto family to close the valley in a vice-like grip with the opposite Bossolasco, in order to control the passage of San Benedetto. First of all, the squat stone tower, covered by a gabled roof perhaps – due its low height – more part of the castle fortification than watchtower. Then the so-called French Arch, a lovely tower-gate, very similar to that of Novello, with stone embrasures and pointed entrance arch. The name derives from the fact that more than 10,000 of Napoleon’s soldiers passed through here in the first Italian Campaign, headed for the conquest of Alba following the victories in the Bormida Valley. Niella also offers the Chapel of San Rocco, with apse frescoes protected by glass (the rest of the church no longer exists) and, obviously, a breathtaking view that dominates the high Belbo Valley, like the subsequent Bormida Valley, from almost 800 m. Beyond the Bossola Pass, we have the Tower of Murazzano that overlooks the Tanaro Valley, while to the south the wall of Cadibona blocks the view of the nearby Ligurian Sea.

Exiting towards Mombarcaro, due to the spectacular position and elegance of the building, the Shrine of Madonna dei Monti is a must-see. It was built in the early 18^th century, perhaps by the good architect Gallo from Mondovì. In Piedmontese baroque style (hence very sober), it is made of stone with finishes in bricks and has only one nave. Inside, the 15^th century frescoes that have recently been restored make one think of an enlargement/replacement of a preceding country chapel. At 860 metres, it is the highest shrine of the Diocese of Alba and the great “Falò d’Estate” is held here each year, to remember Pavesi, for the nativity of Mary (8 September).

Attractions

Feisoglio : Parish Church of San Lorenzo . Niella Belbo : Chris Bangle's Big Bench , Tower , Medieval Arch known as the "Arch of the French"

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

Departure, arrival and municipalities crossed

Departure

Via Veziani (SP339)
Feisoglio
12050 Feisoglio (CN)
Cuneo

see on map

Arrival

Strada Provinciale 31
12050 Niella Belbo (CN)
Cuneo

see on map

Links

http://www.langheroero.it/

Lake Maggiore, Lake Orta, Lake Mergozzo and Ossola Valleys