FROM VEGNI TO MANGIOCALDA: RURAL ARCHITECTURE ON THE TRACKS OF AN ANCIENT OCEAN - BORBERA VALLEY

01/02/2024 - 30/11/2024
Carrega Ligure


Description

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

E type trek elevation gain of 540m length 12km - with Environmental Trekking
Guide

Note

In the setting of the Upper Borbera Valley Nature Park, close to the northern slopes of Mount Antola, between the valley of Campassi and Carrega, emerge the remains of small, abandoned hamlets: Chiapparo and Casoni dei Rissotti. They were never reached by the carriageable road but connected to Vegni, Magioncalda and Antola by a network of ancient mule tracks and trails which will we walk crossing chestnut woods which are home to centuries-old monumental trees to protect. During the walk, explanation of the possibilities to recover and enhance the rural architecture which has maintained its original characteristics in the huts and in the abandoned hamlets and represents a rare and precious cultural resource to protect.
The wide dirt road which leads to Magioncalda, passing through the abandoned town of Chiapparo and i Casoni dei Rissotti (or Risciotti), departs from the paved road heading towards Vegni, mountain hamlet on the boundaries between the Ligurian and Piedmontese slopes. The route, in a NNS-SSE direction, follows the hillside, which from Mount Carmetto leads to Mount of the Three Crosses, passing through Mount Propiano. This side separates the valley of River Carreghino from that of River Campassi and River Agnellasca, in a natural setting with a high ecological and landscape value. From the entrance of the trail, having circumvented the slope of Mount Carmetto, continue along a wide mule track from which it is possible to observe the mountain hamlets of Cartasegna, Connio, Carrega Ligure and Fontanachiusa (populated only during the summer), before reaching Chiapparo. Little is known about the history of this small ghost village immersed in the woods of centuries-old chestnut trees. It is assumed that its depopulation, occurred from the post Second World War period, is due to the shortage of resources and search for new employment possibilities. The stone houses are now dilapidated and derelict; yet it is possible to admire the skilful construction techniques of stone walls and arches that were built centuries ago. At the entrance to the village, it is possible to see an old stone well, beside it a tank for the collection of water now covered entirely by moss, and a little further on another well. The first house you meet in the square of the village, the only one restored with a renovated roof, looks like a refuge with tables in wood and benches. A little further on, a fresco of Ss. Peter and Rocco, drawn on the corner of a derelict house, above an unstable wooden balcony, could indicate that the village was a place of transit for the travellers who stopped here to pray. The trail leads alongside this hamlet to an ancient washhouse, on which is positioned a statue of Our Lady with Child, before climbing the slope to the ruins of Casoni dei Rissotti. I Casoni are three stone buildings at 997 m a.s.l. The biggest one was surely intended as the main house, with barn on the ground floor, the accommodation on the first floor, accessible by a side staircase which has partially collapsed, and an attic, probably used as a hayloft or drying room, considering that it is accessed from the mountain side. The other two buildings were probably drying rooms, considering that the entire slope is characterised by dense woodland with imposing chestnut trees. Continuing along the wide trail you reach Magioncalda, after passing several steeply sloping rivers with cascade configuration that showcase the rocks of the Limestones of Mount Antola. Magioncalda, inhabited for long periods of the year at weekends, boasts its ancient monastic glories, as well as its farming and economic wealth, as Cistercian grange already documented in the 12th century. The visit of the village will be followed by a visit to the water-powered mill recently restored and put back into operation by the Municipality of Carrega Ligure, within the scope of the activities of the Ecomuseum dei Sette Ricordi.

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