A route for expert hikers through the pine forests and pastures of Mount Grione, with breath-taking views from the highest peak in the Val Cavallina valley.
C.A.I. trails: 628, 618A, 618, 628B
Difficulty: EE Expert Hikers
Starting point: Palate
Destination: Palate
Duration: 4 hours and 30 minutes
Presence of water on the route: Fontana di Fanovo
Approach: from the state road S.S. 42, follow the signs for the hamlet Piangaiano and then for the hamlet Palate
Parking: alongside the farmhouse at the hamlet Palate, the starting-point of the track (C.A.I. signpost)
Route:
Following trail n° 628, take the dirt track that climbs up to Valle di Palate (Palate valley) and bends to the right, cutting across the slope of Mount Grione. After passing a wooden barrier and following the hairpin bend to the left, leave the road and take a steep path to the right that climbs through an old replanted black pine forest. After a few hairpin bends, the forest gives way to the natural grasslands that are a feature of the southern slopes of Mount Grione. Continue along the ridge with splendid views of the lakes of Gaiano and Iseo with its island Montisola, the mountains of the Sebino range of Brescia and the Valle Camonica valley, while to the south-west you catch a glimpse of part of Lake Endine and the Val Cavallina valley. After about one and a half hours from the start, you reach the Cross on Mount Grione (1,200 m a.s.l.).
The route continues to the left along the Palate Valley, among rocky Dolomite spires that are home to various species of botanical interest, including Campanula elatinoides, found exclusively in the Insubria district. After another hour’s walk, you reach a crossroads that, to the right, leads to Malga Lunga (618A – 547), straight on takes you to the summit of Mount Grione, and to the left leads to the hamlet Botta Bassa. To climb Mount Grione, the highest peak in Val Cavallina at 1,381 m above sea level, carry on in the same direction, following trail n° 628, then, going around a house from the right, climb the pasture at the edge of the forest.
At the summit, you can enjoy a panorama that, from the west, enables you to see the western and central Alps and the Orobic peaks, to the north-east the Rhaetian Alps with the Adamello group, to the east the mountains of the Brescian valleys and to the south-west the central-northern part of the Apennines. Then go downhill towards Botta Bassa (618A), following a forest path. When you reach the Botta pastures, cross the dirt track and go around the hill, continuing downhill past a hunting post and into the woods. Take an old mule track to the left that leads to a crossroads, where, turning right, you continue the long descent on trail n° 618. Once you have reached a crossroads, don’t take the first path on the right; take the dirt track that, also on the right, leads to the hamlet of Fanovo. At the small church dedicated to St Peter, turn left and walk along the central street of the hamlet. At the end of the hamlet, the route follows the dirt track and then the asphalted road from the hamlet of Palate that leads back to the starting point.
Credits: Cooperativa Sociale l’Innesto Onlus and Consorzio Servizi Val Cavallina.
