Trekking - GTL

GTL - Leg 1

A hillcrest route through a past made of castles, towers and fortresses. Today, the terraced landscape features hazelnut groves that produce one of the sweetest of fruits in these fascinating highlands.

 

The starting point of this route is Castino, a sort of central intersection, both geographically and, perhaps more importantly, ethnically and culturally. Here, the Langhe wine region gives way to the hazelnut groves in the same way that the poetic settings of Pavese gave way to the raw realism of Fenoglio. Here, bricks are replaced with stone; the estates get smaller, the houses lower and more modest and the villages shrink to tiny proportions. Here, life has remained tenaciously attached to just a few acres of land in the same way that the ivy attaches itself to the terraces built to cultivate that land.

From the town’s main square, near the fountain, take the brief slope along Via Negro, then head onto Via San Rocco. At the next crossroads, head up to the right until the end of the paved road. Continue along one of the last sections of the stony road up to the panoramic crest of the hill. Follow the trail through the cultivated fields until you reach a paved road, which bends to the left and stays along the hillcrest. Follow this road, until you pass an isolated house known as “Cà Rossa” (literally: “red house”). At the next crossroads, head left along a flat, gravel road and into the woods. At the first evident fork in the trail, keep to the left and continue along the crest of the hill known as Bric Castel Martino. Here at the summit of this hill, there was once a castle of the same name, but now just a few remnants, immersed in the woods not far away, remain. A bit farther on, another tower rose up from the hill Bric Cisterna and exercised full control over the roadway. This was once the main route to Cortemilia until construction of the Napoleonic road (i.e., the current road, which was built for obvious military needs), so this road is the oldest and most used over the centuries, perhaps as far back as the ancient Romans. It is a road that, to one side, descends down into Cortemilia to the castle nearby Franciscan Monastery while, to the other, headed once (the section is now mostly incomplete) straight down to the San Martino Monastery, across the Belbo river, on to Convento delle Grazie and back up to San Bovo, ending up in Alba.

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Past Castel Martino, the road is again paved and takes you, after a couple of switchbacks, onto a small church dedicated to San Martino. Continue along the paved road, which heads quickly down the terraced hillside in the direction of the impressive remains of the castle in Cortemilia.

The castle of the Del Carretto Marquises of Cortemilia remains one of the largest and most majestic fortresses in the entire Langhe region. Although the palacium has since been lost, the walls and the splendid six-floors cylindrical tower remain, if somewhat damaged. Here was the arrival point of the messages from the five surrounding “castles” (most likely mere watchtowers, such as in Perletto, Bergolo, Gorrino, and the two mentioned above) defending the valley, a crossroads for rivers, commerce, travellers and, inevitably, armies. The strategic importance of the extensive military control of the territory by the Del Carretto Family over the centuries came to bear during Napoleon’s Italian campaign, when Napoleon found himself having to fight and conquer these fortresses one by one. In the Middle Ages, however, before the invention of artillery, these castles were truly impenetrable.
Continue along the walls of the castle to a switchback and leave the paved road to continue straight along a narrow, stony road between the dry-stone walls. Once back on the asphalt at the bottom of the valley, near the former Francis - can Monastery, turn to the right, pass the Town Hall and cross the bridge over the Bormida river, which separates the two historical hamlets of San Pantaleo (across the river) and San Michele (on the near side of the river).

loghi

COVERED AREAS

Langhe

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Departure
Castino
Via Prof. G. Negro
12054
Italy
Arrival
Cortemilia
Corso Teatro
12074
Italy
Type of trail
Linear
Distanz
8.5 km
Difficulty
Intermediate
Estimated Time
2:00 hours

ACCESSIBILITY

Along the way:

Picnic area along the trail
Fountains / water points along the trail

Point of interest along the way

Departure:
Castino
Via Prof. G. Negro
12054 Cuneo
Italy
Arrival:
Cortemilia
Corso Teatro
12074 Cuneo
Italy

Suggested Itineraries

The stages of this itinerary

Back to the main itinerary
  • Stop 0
    GTL - Grande Traversata delle Langhe
    Castino -> San Benedetto Belbo
    240km - Demanding - 52:00h
  • Stop 1
    GTL - Leg 1
    Castino -> Cortemilia
    8.5km - Intermediate - 2:00h
  • Stop 1
    Variant 1A
    GTL - Variant 1A
    Castino -> Santo Stefano Belbo
    14.3km - Intermediate - 4:00h
  • Stop 2
    GTL - Leg 2
    Cortemilia -> Bergolo
    5.2km - Intermediate - 1:30h
  • Stop 2
    Variant 2A
    GTL - Variant 2A
    Pezzolo Valle Uzzone -> Santuario Todocco
    5.5km - Intermediate - 1:35h
  • Stop 2
    Variant 2B
    GTL - Variant 2B
    Cortemilia -> Bric della Croce (Perletto)
    5km - Easy - 1:45h
  • Stop 3
    GTL - Leg 3
    Bergolo -> Prunetto
    9.2km - Intermediate - 2:40h
  • Stop 3
    Variant 3A
    GTL - Variant 3A
    Bergolo -> Pezzolo Valle Uzzone
    3.1km - Intermediate - 35m
  • Stop 3
    Variant 3B
    GTL - Variant 3B
    Bergolo -> Torre Bormida
    6.2km - Intermediate - 1:25h
  • Stop 4
    GTL - Leg 4
    Prunetto -> Gottasecca
    7.5km - Intermediate - 2:10h
  • Stop 4
    Variant 4A
    GTL - Variant 4A
    Prunetto -> Monesiglio
    9.7km - Intermediate - 2:05h
  • Stop 4
    Variant 4B
    GTL - Variant 4B
    Monesiglio -> Bricco Ronchetto (Mombarcaro)
    4.5km - Intermediate - 1:30h
  • Stop 5
    GTL - Leg 5
    Gottasecca -> Saliceto
    11.5km - Intermediate - 3:35h
  • Stop 5
    Variant 5A
    GTL - Variant 5A
    Gottasecca -> Confine Ligure
    5km - Intermediate - 1:00h
  • Stop 6
    GTL - Leg 6
    Saliceto -> Mombarcaro
    19km - Intermediate - 6:00h
  • Stop 7
    GTL - Leg 7
    Mombarcaro -> San Benedetto Belbo
    4.5km - Intermediate - 1:20h
  • Stop 7
    Variant 7A
    GTL - Variant 7A
    San Benedetto Belbo -> Murazzano
    5.5km - Intermediate - 1:45h
  • Stop 8
    GTL - Leg 8
    Murazzano -> Bossolasco
    10km - Easy - 2:45h
  • Stop 9
    GTL - Leg 9
    Bossolasco -> Serravalle Langhe
    6km - Intermediate - 1:45h
  • Stop 9
    Variant 9A
    GTL - Variant 9A
    Serravalle Langhe -> Cerretto Langhe
    7.5km - Intermediate - 1:50h
  • Stop 9
    Variant 9B
    GTL - Variant 9B
    Cerretto Langhe -> Arguello
    4.5km - Intermediate - 50m
  • Stop 9
    Variant 9C
    GTL - Variant 9C
    Arguello -> Lequio Berria
    4.5km - Intermediate - 1:25h
  • Stop 9
    Variant 9D
    GTL - Variant 9D
    Lequio Berria -> Benevello
    8km - Intermediate - 2:10h
  • Stop 10
    GTL - Leg 10
    Serravalle Langhe -> Albaretto della Torre
    5.8km - Intermediate - 1:45h
  • Stop 11
    GTL - Leg 11
    Albaretto della Torre -> Benevello
    10km - Intermediate - 2:15h
  • Stop 12
    GTL - Leg 12
    Benevello -> Pavaglione (Castino)
    4.7km - Intermediate - 1:30h
  • Stop 13
    GTL - Leg 13
    Pavaglione (Castino) -> Castino
    7.7km - Easy - 2:30h
  • Stop 13
    Variant 13A
    GTL - Variant 13A
    Pavaglione (Castino) -> San Donato (Mango)
    13.7km - Demanding - 4:00h
  • Stop 14
    GTL - Leg 14
    Castino -> Cravanzana
    7km - Intermediate - 2:50h
  • Stop 15
    GTL - Leg 15
    Cravanzana -> Feisoglio
    5.5km - Intermediate - 1:45h
  • Stop 15
    Variant 15A
    GTL - Variant 15A
    Torre Bormida -> Cravanzana
    2.8km - Intermediate - 45m
  • Stop 15
    Variant 15B
    GTL - Variant 15B
    Bric del Cucco (Cravanzana) -> Torre Bormida
    5.7km - Easy - 1:50h
  • Stop 16
    GTL - Leg 16
    Feisoglio -> Niella Belbo
    5.4km - Intermediate - 1:45h
  • Stop 16
    Variant 16A
    GTL - Variant 16A
    Villa (Serravalle Langhe) -> Feisoglio
    5.1km - Intermediate - 1:45h
  • Stop 17
    GTL - Leg 17
    Niella Belbo -> San Benedetto Belbo
    5.5km - Intermediate - 1:20h

Suggested Itineraries