From San Bernardo to Tschawiner lakes

An itinerary in the borderlands: the Valley of Zwischbergen, “Val Vaira” in Italian. This valley, as well as many borderlands, has been contended, so much so that in 1920 the municipality of Bognanco decided to set the town properties of the pastures of Val Vaira to a public auction, but the stipulation of the first contract was denied and disclosed with a letter to the Minister of the War to the Prime Minister, Giovanni Giolitti: “These alps are on a land that politically belongs to Switzerland but is geographically Italian” so the trade documents of the alps overland can never be approved!

The itinerary starts from San Bernardo mountain hut, crosses the peat bog of Gattascosa on a scenographic wooden boardwalk and goes up towards Bocchetta di Gattascosa, passing by the ruins of Alpe Raros and the lake Ragozza.

After reaching the border, the characteristic landscape of Val Vaira is crossed, with an extraordinary sequence of small alpine lakes, named Tschawinersee, meaning “the lakes of the place of giavine” (“giavine” is dialect for a stone landslide).

The itinerary passes by six of the eight lakes of Tschawiner and proceeds along the trail that leads from Bocchetta di Gattascosa to Gattascosa mountain hut, to Alpe Micalcesti (once called Mot-Causcestar), to Alpe Monscera, reaches the lakes d’Arza and goes down to Il Dosso mountain hut.

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