SV_23 Vignolo - Colle del Prione - Monte Galero

from the square below the village of Vignolo (467 m) take the cobblestone little mule-track to the right which steeply rises between the ancient house as far as the dirt road to Colle del Prione. Cross this road and carry on walking on the mule-track finding the dirt road again by the ruins of Chiesetta di San Pietro (696 m). Carry on walking on the dirt road for 400 m as far as a hairpin turn: here you join the mule-track again which turns left into a chestnut wood. Here you meet the dirt road again, which you follow for half a km going left, as far as a concrete little bridge. Just after the bridge, at a fork, take the right road but in a few dozen metres leave it to join a mule-track which rises between the beech trees. At a hairpin turn turn off this mule-track and take a less evident footpath to the left. By Casa Ciocca (1072 m) you cross the dirt road again and continue on the grasses leftwards. Walking uphill between little woods and clearings you pass Casa Colombo (1117 m) and reach Colle del Prione (1309 m, 2.30-3 hours from Vignolo) between Pennavaira and Tanaro Valleys. Here you find the AVML which you follow towards North-east along a panoramic ridge: past a steep climb you walk around some minor hills along the Pennavaira side first, and then on the opposite side (Tanaro). You then reach a pass at 1495 m where you ignore on the left the footpath of Via Alpina and carry on walking uphill along the steep watershed between pinnacles and peaks characterised by particular shapes. Leaving the western peak on the left, you reach the pass between the two summits and shortly gain the main summit of Monte Galero (1708 m; 1.40 h from Colle del Prione). The return is along the same itinerary.