Via dei Briganti - Variant 3A

After crossing Rio Traversola, a stream that has shaped a certain part of this territory, to arrive almost near the provincial road at the bottom of the Triversa valley. Going around a fence, behind which there is the estate "La Castella", a very important rural settlement, you continue westwards, until you reach an altitude of 220 m above sea level.

Here the road follows the ridge and, after a few hundred meters, you will notice, on the left, a real jewel for this territory consists of the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Neve, or Vulpilio, from the ancient name of this place. It is a Romanesque church, which still retains the original apse. The church is the remaining testimony of the site where the village of Vulpilio was located, probably already attested at the beginning of the 12th century. In the Baroque period it was enlarged and equipped with a bell tower, with a double lancet window belfry. It is said that the victims of the violent battle that took place in 1554 during the wars between the French and the Spanish are buried nearby.

After a stop at the Sanctuary, we resume our journey towards Bricco Rossi, from where we then descend back down to the valley along wooded areas alternating with cultivated areas. At the crossroads we turn towards Frazione Valle Reale and from here we continue through small inhabited areas and wide expanses of cultivated fields.

We then climb up the ridge and once on the ridge we admire the landscape that surrounds us and, above all, the large wooded areas. We continue along the ridge until we arrive again at a path that goes through the woods and at the end of which we reach the end of the Leg. The end of the stage intercepts the stretch of the Via dell'Acqua that connects San Paolo Solbrito and Villanova d’Asti.