Via Valeriana
This is a short account of a short walk - the Via Valeriana, from Pilzone to Pisogne along the east of Lago d’Iseo in Lombardy, northern Italy. I had booked the flight to Bergamo at the last minute and hadn’t decided on a walking route beforehand, with no decent map to consult. I had thought of travelling north from Bergamo to the Orobie Alps, a significant range of the pre-Alps rising to over 3000 metres. However, looking down from the plane as we arrived, it was clear that there was still a lot of snow on the hight peaks (mid May) and I wasn’t equipped, in any sense of the word, to tackle those kind of conditions.
So I settled on the Via Valeriana, a quite well promoted ancient route from the Po plain north to the Alps via the Val Camonica. Apparently usually done in 2 days it is only 24 km long, so I figured that it shouldn't be too hard to do in a day, especially as I thought it was pretty level. Before and after, I did some sightseeing in and around Bergamo (pretty and interesting, but heaving with tourists in the Vila Alta) and Brescia (less touristy and with some great Roman and medieval sights).
I tested one of the local waymarked routes (533) from a suburb just north of the Bergamo old town up one of the forested hills of the local Parco dei Colli. It was well-marked and maintained, though being entirely in the forest didn’t give access to the spectacular views that must be there. There are dozens of paths in this area that you could explore, form day hikes to major expeditions
So I settled on the Via Valeriana, a quite well promoted ancient route from the Po plain north to the Alps via the Val Camonica. Apparently usually done in 2 days it is only 24 km long, so I figured that it shouldn't be too hard to do in a day, especially as I thought it was pretty level. Before and after, I did some sightseeing in and around Bergamo (pretty and interesting, but heaving with tourists in the Vila Alta) and Brescia (less touristy and with some great Roman and medieval sights).
I tested one of the local waymarked routes (533) from a suburb just north of the Bergamo old town up one of the forested hills of the local Parco dei Colli. It was well-marked and maintained, though being entirely in the forest didn’t give access to the spectacular views that must be there. There are dozens of paths in this area that you could explore, form day hikes to major expeditions
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The Via Valeriana
Having spent the night in Brescia, I made a late start to the walk itself at nearly 11am, rather confused by the train schedules; although providing an easy and cheap access to the walk, many trains don't stop at the start of the route at Pilzone, so I wasted time changing at Iseo town. Pretty much right outside of the Pilzone station, a board indicates the start of the walk. Every couple of kilometres there are similar boards showing where you are on the route and the sections you are pass through. A yellow/brown "V" painted on walls is also commonly encountered to show the way.
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The first section was a shady path parallel to the lake shore, perhaps a hundred metres above to Sulzano, a larger town.
Here I lost the signed route at one of the ravines that cross the route in many places, as I did several times later, although it is always easy to rejoin the route later on. The way is a mixture of old cobbled surfaces with some country lanes and modern roads. Although certainly picturesque, I was a little disappointed that there is little or no sense that you are passing along an ancient route. You pass several churches and old village houses, but I imagine this would be the case on almost any route in the part of the world?
Here I lost the signed route at one of the ravines that cross the route in many places, as I did several times later, although it is always easy to rejoin the route later on. The way is a mixture of old cobbled surfaces with some country lanes and modern roads. Although certainly picturesque, I was a little disappointed that there is little or no sense that you are passing along an ancient route. You pass several churches and old village houses, but I imagine this would be the case on almost any route in the part of the world?
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Heading north from Sulzano, you pass through numerous small villages that almost join together above the lake. The predominant views are of Monte Isola, the large pointy island in the lake as the path climbs a little inland. Nearing Marone, the size of the mountains ahead became more striking - steep peaks a good thousand metres above the lake that force the route inland and away from the lake. I hadn’t looked too closely at the contours on my map (50,000:1 Kompass) but realised that the section up to Zone (pronounced, of course, Zoh-nay) would involve a fair climb.
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Sure enough, the path became very steep, crossing the main road and passing under some industrial mining gear stretching up the mountain. I found this a bit of a slog, but Zone was fairly soon reached, preceded by its ‘pyramids’ (glacial erratics balanced on eroded pillars). At nearly 700 metres above sea level, picturesque and ancient Zone felt noticeably more Alpine than than the lake villages.
I was pleased to have reached what i had thought was the top, as I pressed on north. However, it soon became clear that the high point was some way off yet, with a well-maintained but steep cobbled path climbing in seemingly endless bends up towards a pass (Croce de Zone). In fact this is only 902m above sea level, but felt higher! Plunging down through the woods on the other side, the path crossed some heavy streams and loose but friendly horses before the town began to come into view below. Arriving on the outskirts of Pisogne, a couple more streams and mills were crossed before arriving at the lakeside at around 7 o'clock.
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Lovere, Iseo and back to Pilzone
The next day, I walked over to Lovere, an interesting old town on the other side of the lake, where I planned to catch a boat down the lake to Iseo. The only route seems to be along the busy main road, there being no pedestrian crossing of the Oglio river, so this not a recommended route for future reference. However, the timetables caught me out again as the boat to Iseo only ran on Saturdays at this time of year. So it was a quick hop on the boat back to Pisogne instead, the train back to Iseo, and a 4 km walk back to my starting point at Pilzone for a night at the lakeside campsite with spectacular sunset views and the deafening sound of blackbird song.
