With very little in the way of settlements or built-up areas, the huge area between Lago Maggiore and Lago Orta should be ideal hiking country. The trouble is, and take a look at Google Earth to confirm this, there are very few areas above the tree line. The only areas offering sweeping vistas over the lakes and as far as Monte Rosa are Mottarone, at nearly 1500 metres above sea level, and Monte Falò (Bonfire Hill) at 1080 metres – also known as the Tre Montagnette or Three Hills. 

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You can drive almost all the way to the summit of Mottarone, a winter ski resort, and so things can get decidedly crowded. We much prefer Monte Falò where you may well not meet another soul.

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This delightful walk takes us to a poor farming area where few tourists venture despite the fact that the area is just half an hour away by car from Lago Maggiore. Setting off from Stresa by car, we take the road up towards the A26 Motorway, continuing along this road rather than branching off for Carpugnino. After 10 minutes we arrive at Gignese, a lovely small town (or big village) with a split personality due to its position on the fault-line between a swish area awash with belle époque mansions and a landscape of poor farming communities across the river. This is where owners of dilapidated tractors rub shoulders with rich Milanese up for the weekend.

 

Umbrella museum

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Gignese’s main site of interest is the umbrella museum, housed in an outlandish 1970’s umbrella-shaped building. In bygone times, each village would specialise in the manufacture or maintenance of a particular product and Gignese’s specialisation was umbrellas. Follow the road over the bridge, stopping to gaze at a semi-abandoned apartment block teetering on the brink of the precipice by the bridge.

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We are now in the Agogna valley, a dairy-farm area with small hill-side fields interspersed amongst woods. Most of the farms that dot the slopes are either abandoned or have been converted into holiday homes but several are still operational all year round, though beset by extreme rural poverty as their occupants seek to eke out a meagre living from the land scraping. Sometimes only a plume of smoke rising above a tumbledown farm on a manure-stained track is the indication that the building is still inhabited. This valley was only linked to the electricity system in 1981.

 

German new-agers

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At Sovazza, turn right and follow the signs to the next village of Coiromonte which a very small group of German new-agers have elected as their retreat from civilisation. Much to the amazement of the locals, they have put down roots and integrated into the community. Their buildings, which are dotted around the town, can be recognised by distinctive wheel-shaped windows.

 

Parking

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You can park at the entrance to the village next to a building bearing an “Omnidiet” sign. The community’s guru is an Austrian musician who organises an annual “Spirit of Woodstock” festival at the beginning of August. There are no specific sites as such, other than the traditional village houses.

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Take the first right, opposite Omnidiet, drive up and park at the top of the hill, next to a popular agriturismo: Al Carbon. The food, all produced on the farm, is excellent, as is the cheese and yoghurt they sell.

 

Hiking

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The track starts opposite the agriturismo. Take the right fork and continue walking uphill, along a ridge, through a bright, airy forest until after a couple of kilometres, when you are above the tree-line, you see a path cutting right. This path will lead you to Monte Falò, the tallest of the three hills. The views over Monte Rosa, Lago Maggiore and and the Po Valley are stunning.