AVI THE GHOST VILLAGE - BORBERA VALLEY

01/04/2024 - 31/10/2024
Roccaforte Ligure


Description

Trekking itinerary to combine with one of the bike&train itineraries of the Borbera Valley or as an experience between history and nature

E type trek elevation gain of 600m length 9km - with Environmental Trekking
Guide

Note

Route between history and science of the land, between memory of the communities and nature, in one of the sites of the Resistance and the War of Liberation. The summit, which from Roccaforte leads to "Croce degli Alpini", offers scenic glimpses which become wider and more fascinating, showing all the beauty of the first part of the Bormida Valley. It also represents a privileged observatory to study first-hand several aspects of the human-environment relationship. A guided tour of Avi, a ‘ghost’ town definitively abandoned in 1952 and now overgrown with vegetation, will reveal the environmental, geological and naturalistic aspects combined with the historical ones of ancient country life. Avi comprises two distinct centres: the first, known as Avi di là or Superiore, which hosts the remains of the Church of San Vito, a drying room for chestnuts ("Abegu"), the multi-family house, the barn, the cistern for the collection of rainwater, with the ducts dug into the rock.
Despite having to avoid entering the houses because of the precarious walls, all it takes is just a quick glance at these buildings to have an idea of the construction knowledge of those who lived here. Passed the first area, you quickly reach the second, Avi di qua or inferiore. Next to the ruins of other homes overgrown by vegetation, it is still possible to see the layers taken from the mountain and once cultivated with cereals, potatoes, vines and fruit trees which, together with the products of the forest (chestnuts, wood, coal), allowed the inhabitants to survive. The progressive abandonment of the valley quickly decreed the sad fate of this ancient village. During the hike, participants will also hear about the events of the accident involving two Stuka that occurred close to Avi, during a transfer to the Libyan front
(1941).

Rates / Supplements