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  • Thu 25 April
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DISCOVERING VALLE CERVO’S VILLAGES

Silence and isolation become pleasures to enjoy in the potent nature of Oasi Zegna. Woodland walks and overnight stays in villages of stones as a holiday or just a weekend

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Rediscovering little villages, history and memory, traditions, the powerful sense of community binding individuals and families….

2021 too will be a year of slow tourism inviting us to rediscover nearby destinations, with no crowds and a focus on nature. The arrival of the warm season is undoubtedly the best time to set out. But check up first on restrictions on moving between regions and the opening of public places.

Come with us to the tiny stone villages in Valle Cervo and discover the wildest side of Oasi Zegna, with its untamed mountains, ridges bristling with thick stands of beech, birch and chestnut, syenite quarries, drystone boundary walls and cobbled mule tracks linking the various settlements. 

DISCOVERING THE VILLAGES
Made of stone, solitary and picturesque, small, even tiny like Piedicavallo, with just 200 inhabitants and a single cobbled “high street”, these places will let you discover the spirit of ‘La Bürsch’ (i.e. home, den or micro-homeland), as this land is called in the local dialect. Visit Oretto, with its “albergo diffuso” (dispersed hotel), or Quittengo, Campiglia Cervo and San Paolo Cervo, and you’ll be transported into another dimension of time, when the Bürsch was a land of stonemasons, masters in working syenite, a prestige form of granite extracted in this area, and highly skilled builders who were in demand throughout Europe.
MUSEUM HOUSE IN UPPER VALLE CERVO
Another must-see is amazing Rosazza, with under 100 inhabitants and noble late 19th century architecture associated with the Biella senator Federico Rosazza and architect Giuseppe Maffei, an irresistible destination for those interested in esoteric and masonic symbolism. It’s a good idea to start by visiting the Casa Museo dell’alta Valle Cervo (via Micca 25, Rosazza, tel. 338.3876595) to find out about the origins and history of the local upland communities and their culture. 

NATURE WALKS
Panoramas embracing valleys, woodlands and mountains. The area has numerous possibilities for walking, some simple and suitable for all the family, others best left to experienced mountain hikers. The Belvedere, for example, is an easy 90 minute walk, with a number of covered and stairway sections, to the Belvedere della Pila (980 meters asl) with a spectacular view of the valley. Start from the fork in the Panoramica road (1,120 m) and follow the steep narrow surfaced road leading in a few minutes down to Oriomosso, one of the prettiest villages in the area.

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