Piemonte without a car | Paesana-Dronero Stage 1: Paesana-Oncino

The itinerary starts from the square in front of the Confraternity of Santa Croce in Paesana (on the square that hosts the bus stop), crossing the SP26 of the Po Valley in a southerly direction to enter the narrow Via Pratoguglielmo; after passing a large newsstand near the ecological island, immediately after, take the uphill road on the right, indicated by the signpost V41 /Orizzonte Monviso for the Borgate Airetta - Bonetti - Bivio Borgata Fantoni. Continue until the first crossroads where you continue on the dirt road; after a wide hairpin bend, at the next fork, continue keeping to the right, maintaining the main route that climbs gently until reaching the Borgata Airetta (745 m.).

After about 200 m you come out onto the provincial road, which you cross to take another dirt road near Bosco Lay, and in the woods you continue straight until you cross and cross the provincial road again: after a few metres uphill you take the forest track that enters the woods again. After a couple of hairpin bends, you pass Comba Fantoni (until you reach the top of the houses of Borgata Bertoni (956 m. above) where an asphalt road ends, you climb slightly up to Borgata Rocceia (997 m.): a group of about 50 huts, very well renovated; the road, slightly but constantly uphill, leads downstream from the group of Borgata Bonetti "the painter's village" and joins the provincial road.

You then follow the provincial road for a stretch of a few hundred meters, until you come across a large hairpin bend, above Borgata Fantoni, and you take the forest track on the left that goes uphill; the signs are limited to a sign recalling the Orizzonte Monviso route (1,005 m. approx.). The dirt road narrows to a path and enters the woods, then turns left again after passing on the opposite side and climbs decisively towards the south-west, along the ridge, on a smooth surface following the slope until you cross the ridge at some isolated rocks in the woods (1080 m approx.). The traverse continues with a constant slope on a regular surface crossing an area devoid of broad-leaved trees, then another wooded area, until it becomes thicker until it finally leaves it. to finally be able to enjoy the panorama that will continue to open up more and more.

The trail becomes a grassy mule track that continues to climb gently, entering the dirt road that on the right reaches the mountain pastures of Meire Pra l’Erasca; continue directly on the dirt road, arriving a little further ahead near the former conifer forest nursery at Meire di Prà Bonetto (1,254 m approx.) and from here continue on the dirt road that reaches the departure station of the “Vivaio” ski lift, of the Pian Munè ski area; going up the grassy slope along the line of the plant until it crosses the dirt road that connects the main road with the upper part of the valley towards Bric Tournur.

From the road, going up another seventy meters, you reach the square of the asphalt road that from Paesana reaches the Pian Munè hiking refuge and the part downstream of the winter station (1,535 m.).

The itinerary instead continues on the dirt road bending to the right: the road (Signpost V40) goes around the entire valley in a “U” shape almost on a contour line crossing a series of depressions, passes near the Meire del Cugno, goes over a small ridge and continues on more open terrain. The dirt road remains high at the crossroads, at the height of Gias Chabre (with the V41 signpost resuming from the junction of the downhill dirt road that, passing through several groups of huts, leads to the bottom of the valley towards Erasca di Paesana) on a slight slope until reaching the Croce Tournour locality (1,561 m.). A panoramic point with a cardinal orientation table placed on a small pillar, and a view of the Monviso group, the valley floor and the Saluzzo plain.

From here the dirt road turns left at 180° and continues always on a slight slope between small groups of trees and large expanses of grass, to enter the Oncino side by turning left, after passing the Rocca delle Formiche locality (1,560 m.). The route continues on the dirt road that begins to descend steadily and on a less regular surface along open grassy slopes. After passing a narrow hairpin bend to the right, the descent begins between large and some groups of birches and other trees, skirting with a wide hairpin bend upstream and downstream the Meire del Giaset (1,460 m.). Leaving the track for the Rocca di Serra la Boula on the right, continue on a slight descent in an open field, until you enter the woods. The road here descends in a series of 10 steep hairpin bends. The slope becomes steeper, characterized by the presence of numerous hairpin bends. At the flat crossroads (which leads to the Biatonnet basin and the little church of Madonna della Neve to the right) keep to the road towards left. We continue downhill, for a stretch, alongside the covered canal of the hydroelectric catchment until we reach the bed of the Rio Frassaia where the intake structure is located. After crossing the small bridge, the dirt road passes on the opposite side and passes by a rocky area, at Meire di Pinfol, then crosses the ruined huts of Ciapitur and finally ends in the hamlet of Serre di Oncino, where it is possible to spend the night, emerging on the side of the Chapel of Sant’Anna (1,225 m.) which “closes” the village upstream.

PER ARRIVARE A PAESANA:

fino a Torino in treno

www.trenitalia.com

da Torino linea bus Torino-Carignano-Saluzzo-Paesana

www.buscompany.it