GTL - Grande Traversata delle Langhe - Stage 3B: Bergolo - Torre Bormida

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Highlights and tour details

Another variant of the GTL with departure from the village of stone. This connecting route takes us to Torre Bormida and, from here, allows us to reunite with Cravanzana and to the routes of the GTL on the ridge.

From the square of Bergolo, descend to the side of the tourist office for a few metres and, having crossed the provincial road, you go downhill proceeding along the maximum slope on a road that becomes immediately cobbled. Cross the provincial road again, go left to cut a subsequent bend and enter the paved road for the hamlet of Bergamaschi. At the next bend, leave the paved road to descend to the right, with a section in the wood. Having reached a very scenic hazelnut grove, go right and descend to the margins of the wood: passed the basin of the municipal aqueduct you return to the paved road near the lovely Villa Bergolo. Take the road in front of the house and, skirted the garden, head for the white house, until you reach its gate.

Go to the right on a less obvious stretch and, keeping on the edge of the cropland, go passed a second aqueduct basin. Enter the wood and, for a section on cobbled road, reach the houses of the hamlet of Bergamaschi. Crossed the courtyards of the two houses, keeping on the ridge with a steep section and with a very ruined surface, return to the paved road at the centre of the hamlet. Having crossed the Bormida, climb to the left and take the provincial road and, after a few dozen metres, in Gorretta, climb to a steep paved road that before long takes directly to the square of Torre Bormida.

Start off from Torre Bormida, a village that is positioned half way up the hill overlooking the river, on which it is reflected from above. A single path travels it to the church square, from where the houses are arranged in a circular shape towards the valley. Besides the original concentric and the nearby cemetery, in the woody side to the east of the village, we find the remains of the castle, which well highlights the age of the place, not only for the defensive position, but also for the crossroads of trade routes controlled from here over the centuries.

What makes the village particularly interesting is the rural architecture to discover, climbing a little everywhere between the dry stone walls which have ‘scalped’ the entire southern slope over the centuries, tearing arable land from the impossible heights of the valley. Next to the dry stone walls, there are the farmhouses, perfectly placed to make the most of the sun and wind, built in stone and wood with very few brick inserts. And then, again, wells and drying areas (a circular one rises beautifully at the crossroads of the valley bottom), barns and tool sheds, crotin of tuff and wooden lobbie (namely dug cellars and balconies), in an infinite repetition of technique and need, of wisdom and innovation that have made this valley an open air museum of the stone of Langa and of the century old dignified poverty of its residents.

Attractions

Bergolo , the Stone Village : Church of San Sebastiano

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 Roma
Bergolo
12074 Bergolo (CN)
Cuneo

see on map

Arrival

Via Umberto Maddalena
12050 Torre Bormida (CN)
Cuneo

see on map

Links

http://www.langheroero.it/

Langhe Monferrato and Roero