BTB - Bar To Bar - Stage 3: San Bovo - Niella Belbo

From the bottom of the square of San Bovo take the steep dirt road which will take to Rio Grazie (the last section is paved and we keep to the left). In front, we can clearly see one of the three monasteries of Castino, the female one of the Grazie, today a private farmhouse, while high up on the ridge to the right we can glimpse the one of Saint Martin (today a livestock farm); the third, the Benedictine one, awaits us in the village. Having reached the Rio, we go past it on a U bend (with the sign San Bovo) and resume the unpaved road to the left to reach the Belbo Valley on the state road. We cross it to take via Molina and, past the bridge over the Belbo, we climb on paved ground for approximately 1 km to reach an ancient fort with sentry-box and medieval arch with coat of arms, from where, on the right, we take the mule track which climbs steeply to the village of Castino, among fields and hazelnut trees (it crosses paved ground a few times, but actually runs straight like all mule tracks). The historic centre of Castino reflects the richness brought by three monasteries (as remembered earlier) and it is bound, as they say, to worldly honour, with a curious parish church with double faade. The castle and the remains of the tower speak of a century-old glorious history of control of the passage between Bormida, Belbo and Bassa Langa.In more recent times, the town suffered from the Nazi Fascist retaliation during the round-ups of 1944. From Castino, after a lovely walk among the flowery streets of the ancient village, we follow the signs for the town hall and then keep left in Via San Rocco (if we continue, it is worth taking a look at the homonymous country church), to take the mule track on the right in stone which climbs up the ridge (more or less paved) in the direction of the high Belbo Valley. These mule tracks, that travel the ridges of the valleys and then climb narrowly and steeply from one ridge to the other, are the most hidden trace, but perhaps the most relevant, of the traffic and of the merchants who, for almost one thousand years, unceasingly travelled the salt routes from the sea to the Po Valley, making these places today remote the centre of a world. In this sense, the Belbo Valley(like the two ValleysBormida and Uzzone) is a continuous discovery of past glories and memories ruined by the romantic taste, which would have made Foscolo, Petofi and Byrone happy. However, let us enjoy the view that takes us to the wildest Langhe, in which the isolated houses become rare and the villages twist around a higher spur of the hill, closed in stone walls and grim fortresses. Around you, fragrant woods of chestnuts and linden trees, locust trees and elm trees, with willow trees along the rittani and the oaks on the peaks. As legend has it, they are placed up there to await the lightening that, from Jupiter onwards, the Gods always hurl to create the magic of the white truffle. From Castino, the route along the ridge heads for Cravanzana, passing high above Bosia, which instead is located halfway up the hillside. Here we are at the fork of the Lodola (another celebrated place of Fenoglio where the Partisans Poli and Mauri met after the winter of 1944: we recommend a short detour) where our grassy route joins, as already said, for a few hundred metres the strip of paved road and then again we depart to the right to enter the freshness of the wood. Here every junction in the trail is marked by a pole or by specific red-white marks on the plants. Finally, the road curves in a couple of hairpin bends to emerge onto the road of Viarascio, which descends to Cortemilia among beautiful woods and clearings. Turn right to climb back up towards Cravanzana on the same paved road, between hazelnut groves keptas gardens, until the village crossroads.Having past the crossroads, we enter the village on viale dei caduti and the majestic silhouette of the marquis castle that dominates the small medieval village. Cravanzana is considered one of the capitals of the hazelnut, the Tonda e Gentile delle Langhe quality (today officially called Piemonte IGP), which you can tell by the name that it is the best in the world. It will not be difficult around here to find local artisans and pastry makers. We stroll among the narrow streets of the village, to exit southwards in via Ferrera and, then, we resume the unpaved road keeping to the right. At the first junction, turn left, uphill into the wood as far as a farmhouse. Keep right and, at the next farmhouse, cross the yard to continue on a cart track, which crosses the asphalt and continue to the ridge as far as Case Codin. Heretake the paved road to the left for a short section as far as Cascina Cattivo (origin of prisoner, not of perfidy!), from which you take the unpaved road of the ridge of Bricco del Sole until practically to the roundabout of the town of Feisoglio, the third village of the High Valley, always famous for its mushrooms, in which it is definitely worth visiting the Parish Church of San Lorenzo.In front of the town are the hamlets perched on the other slope of Belbo: Arguello (in the face of Cravanzana), Cerretto Langhe (straight opposite) and the hamlet of Villa of Serravalle (headquarters of a partisan command). Having gone past the town on a paved road, take a left at the first junction (marked), along a road which shortly after becomes unpaved 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 of Mediterranean aromas. After about 2 km of paved road turn left and, after a short descent, immediately to the right, almost in a U shape, again on gravel, to take us back among vegetable gardens and fields on the panoramic peak. Continue until the next paved road where you go straight on towards the Spianata dellAmore 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 stage of their love. This proves the good taste of the medieval troubadours in choosing the places! The flat area, in effect, 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, to descendgently to the right towards the village of Niella Belbo.