On the Saccarello: a trip to a mountain without borders
Flower Riviera
A trip to Mount Saccarello, the highest peak in Liguria, between Italy and France, amidst cultures, flavours and scenery without borders, where Ligurians, Piedmontese and Brigascs have always coexisted
Not all places are suitable for having borders. Only a few places like Monte Saccarello know how to break down boundaries.
This mountain has always been a point of reference: for Ligurians, at 2,200 m above sea level, it is the highest peak in the region; for the French it is an important, strategic peak of the mountain group that also includes Monte Frontè (2,152 m), Cima Missun (2,356 m) and Monte Bertrand (2,482 m); for the Piedmontese, it is the last obstacle to the sea; for the Brigascs, the people who have always inhabited these slopes, it is simply ‘r’ Sciacarée’, and it is more than a mountain: it is a companion, a father, a giant who can make good and bad weather.
A trip here, in addition to a full immersion in the nature of the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri, is also a voyage of discovery of the alpine cultures of Liguria, so far away and yet so close to the sea, just a few kilometres from the coast but remote enough to have preserved their own culture, languages, customs and food, so much so that you will really feel as if you have crossed a border without crossing any frontier.
The stages
Monte SaccarelloAlta Via del Sale
Tour of the Brigasque lands
La Terza Lodge
Higher and higher on the Alta via dei Monti Liguri
Il Bosco delle Navette
The summit of Monte Saccarello
Monte Saccarello
At its summit, not two, but three, four borders alternate: between Italy and France; between Piedmont, Liguria and the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur; between the province of Imperia, that of Cuneo and the Alpes-Maritimes department; between Ligurians, Piedmontese, French and Brigascs. And the three valleys that converge there? This is no small feat: the Tanaro valley that plunges into Piedmont to the north-east; the Roia valley, which has always been disputed between Italy and France, to the west; and the Argentina valley, that of Triora, Badalucco and Taggia to the south-east.
On one side, on the southern slope, there is a drop of tens of metres and steep rocky precipices with a few twisted pines standing on it; on the northern slope, there are gentle grassy slopes with trees and meadows on which people used to ski in winter.
Have you had enough of all this geography? Then we can not talk about biology: Saccarello is among the top of the class in this area as well. The proximity to the sea and the shape of its slopes make it possible to pass in a short time from mountain forests of broad-leaf trees to pines and larches, to colourful shrubs of rhododendrons and blueberries, to areas where absolute rarities flourish such as the edelweiss or the Rhaponticum bicknellii, a species of wild artichoke that is much loved when preserved in oil or vinegar. Chamois and marmots venture among the rocks, and that cry you hear up there could be a golden eagle (yes, that is right, the queen of birds) or the love call of a black grouse, or, in the evening, the sombre two-tone uh-uhhh of an eagle owl.
One of the 20 statues of Christ the Redeemer placed on the Italian mountains for the Jubilee of 1900 was placed on one of the peaks of Saccarello, 2164 m above sea level in 1901. A brick of its base is located in Rome, in the Holy Door at St Peter's in the Vatican.
Alta Via del Sale
Alta Via del Sale: outdoors at a high altitude
The Alta Via del Sale (Upper Salt Road) passes through these parts, a spectacular former military route that connects Triora and Limone Piemonte and runs between 1,800 and 2,100 metres above sea level, across the Alpine watershed and the French-Italian border, for a total length of about 30 km. Completely unpaved, it winds its way past Piedmontese fortresses, spectacular hairpin bends carved into the rock and open views of the peaks of the Marguareis and the Maritime Alps. It is the perfect trail for a complete sport experience in nature, for overcoming your own borders (as well as many geographical ones of course, see above). It is open in the summer months, as soon as ice and snow allow the safe passage of hikers, mountain bikers and even motor vehicles, except on certain days of the week when cars and motorbikes are excluded. https://www.altaviadelsale.com/eng/
Realdo and Verdeggia from Monte Saccarello
Tour of the Brigasque lands
When you are at the top of Saccarello look down: you will see below you to the south two small villages, Realdo and Verdeggia. To the east is a larger town, La Brigue, in France; to the north, with a little luck you will spot Piaggia or Carnino. Here, this is the land of the Brigascs.
But who are they in Brigascan region? Technically, today they are the members of a homogeneous cultural area covering eight towns, six Italian and two French: La Brigue, Morignolo (Morignole), Realdo, Verdeggia, Piaggia, Upega, Carnino and Viozene.
The history of this community is that of a group of villages in which mountain isolation and an essentially agro-pastoral economy led to the creation of a true indigenous community, with its own original language and culture. United and solid, the Brigascan community lived in these places for hundreds of years, until History (the one with a capital 'H', which, as Montale wrote, 'leaves underpasses, crypts, holes and hiding places') divided this people between Italy and France with a painful separation after the Paris agreements in 1947 that regulated the border. Realdo and Verdeggia were assigned to the municipality of Triora (IM), Viozene to Ormea (CN), Piaggia, Carnino and Upega to the municipality of Briga Alta (CN). A painful separation because many people were forced to change where they lived, their language, name, as well as their identity card and nationality.
It is estimated that there are only a few Brigascs left, around 700/800: if you want to get to know them and learn more, visit 'A Ca' di Brigaschi', their small museum in Realdo, or their FB page and website'A Vaštéra - Üniun de tradisiun brigašche'. But if you want to meet them, the best time of year is summer, when many families return to their places of origin from Nice, Piedmont and the Côte d'Azur, and under r' Sciacaré you will breathe, eat and speak Brigascan again: you'll hear 'bütéa' instead of 'bottega’ (shop), 'ř řelöri' instead of 'orologio’ (clock), 'fantitti' instead of 'bambini’ (children); you'll eat 'sugeli' with 'bruss', exquisite gnocchi with typical fermented ricotta, or 'raviore', special tortelloni with aromatic herbs, recipes from this local cuisine called the Cucina Bianca (white cuisine)
La Terza Lodge
At the La terza lodge: the challenge to climate change
There are two ways to get to Saccarello: an adventurous and challenging trek, a real climb from Realdo through the Collardente pass, between larch forests and transhumance paths; by car along the Arroscia Valley, Mendatica along the roads of the Cucina Bianca, and further up, from Monesi di Triora.
Fear not: what you will see - abandoned hotels, empty houses, rusting ski lifts - is part of another era. Monesi is a challenge to think about the future: the climate has changed, there has not been any snow here for years, or not enough to ski. What if the facilities were used for everything else, the many things that could be done here?
Those at the La Terza lodge have realised this: its name 'La Terza' refers to the third station of the chairlift that used to transport skiers; but today, instead of skiing, people come here to walk, cycle, breathe and also to eat well: at La Terza they prepare traditional dishes with the flavours of the Cucina bianca. Those chairlifts, which almost reach the statue of the Redeemer, could come in handy.
Here you can go on spectacular treks at 2,000 metres with the sea in front of you: in addition to the Monesi - Limone, the AVML, the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri (High Route of the Ligurian Mountains), and the GTA, the Grande Traversata Alpina, a long-distance hiking trail that unites the entire western Alpine arc, passes through here. The complete Saccarello ring has more than 20 km of walks through greenery and mountain bike trails, also along the spectacular Via del Sale.
Alta Via dei Monti Liguri, Monte Saccarello
Higher and higher on the Alta via dei Monti Liguri
Sei nella tappa più alta dell’Alta Via dei Monti Liguri: qui questa dorsale che attraversa tutta la Liguria ha la sua tappa n.5, la Sella d'Agnaira - Sella della Valletta, ben 15 km che non scendono mai sotto i 1600 m di quota e raggiungono la parte più alta del tracciato: il Monte Saccarello a 2200 metri sul livello del mare.
Dopo la Sella d'Agnaira e la Bassa di Marta si arriva al Col de l'Afel e poi alla Bassa di Sanson: qui si incrociano le vecchie vie dei brigaschi, quella per Briga e quella per Realdo dove puoi fare tappa per una notte. Anche perché poi comincia uno dei tratti più duri di tutta l’AVML: bisogna salire in cima al Saccarello, compiendo un dislivello di quasi 1000 metri. Ma non temere, a consolarti della fatica c’è il paesaggio: a uno scenario naturale una bellezza incredibile s’alternano opere dell’uomo: le fortificazioni della II G.M. Nei pressi c’è il Balcone di Marta, una intera montagna in cui è stato scavato un forte. Quei soldati per fortuna dovettero combattere solo con il freddo e il gelo nelle guardie invernali.
Bosco delle Navette
Bosco delle Navette
The Bosco delle Navette is a forest with everything going for it: tall larch trees as far as the eye can see dominate the hillside for more than 1,000 hectares; dim light penetrates the foliage; there is a road in the middle that crosses it, who knows where it goes and from where it comes. There is a scent of resin and the occasional distant chirping of birds. If we were in America, we would be in Yellowstone, but here, on the exact border between Liguria and Piedmont, you will not find any talking Yogi bears to welcome you, at most a few cute little Brigascan sheep who have lost their flock.
It is the most southern larch forest in the Alps, and the SP 154 that leads from Ponte di Nava from Monesi di Triora (IM) to the small village of Upega (CN) passes through it, and the beautiful Monesi - Limone also passes through it if you really want an into the wild experience.
Why is it called 'delle Navette'? Because in the past, timber from this forest was used for building ships (navette): many of the masts and flagpoles on which the flag of the Republic of Genoa proudly flew came from here. Today, cutting the forest is forbidden because it is protected by the Regional Natural Park of the Ligurian Alps.
