History in the Streets - Comparison Between Italian and American Street Names

Italian Street Names | Bergamo Street Names | American Street Names

Walking through a typical Italian city you can't help but get a lesson in Italian history: it's all encoded in street names. It wouldn't be uncommon to receive directions such as "Follow Viale Vittorio Emanuele II, turn left on Giuseppe Verdi and follow it until you come to Via Cesare Battisti." In the course of your journey you would be honoring, respectively, Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of a united Italy in the late 1800s, Giuseppe Verdi, the famous Italian opera composer of the second half of the 1800s, and Cesare Battisti, the Italian patriot and socialist politician of the late 1800s and early 1900s.

It turns out that street names in Italy fall into a couple of broad categories dealing with important people and events in Italian history.  By contrast, street names in the United States tend to be based on numbers (e.g., First, Second) or names of trees (e.g., Oak, Elm). 

In this post, we'll compare and contrast street names between the US and Italy. Specifically, we'll talk about the top names used for Italian streets. Then, we'll use Bergamo as a specific Italian city example and list its typical street names. Finally, we'll close out by talking about American street names.

Italian Street Names

The data discussed here is from Laboratorio internazionale di onomastica (LIOn), but unfortunately doesn't seem to be easily accessible anymore. (Long live data on the internet!) So, we have to rely on others who analyzed the data, in particular these two references:

• Reference 1: Toponomastica, uno studio sui 100 nomi più usati per denominare le strade italiane
• Reference 2: Cosa ci dicono i nomi delle strade

These two references (circa 2013) give the following top 20 Italian street names:

1. Roma 
2. Giuseppe Garibaldi 
3. Guglielmo Marconi 
4. Giuseppe Mazzini 
5. Dante Alighieri 
6. Camillo Benso conte di Cavour 
7. Giacomo Matteotti 
8. Giuseppe Verdi 
9. IV Novembre 
10. Castello 
11. Papa Giovanni XXIII 
12. Cesare Battisti 
13. Alessandro Manzoni 
14. Aldo Moro 
15. Antonio Gramsci 
16. Chiesa 
17. Vittorio Veneto 
18. Piave 
19. Alcide de Gasperi 
20. Umberto I

Some data about this list of street names:

• The list of top street names came from over 8,100 Italian cities. 
• Reference 1 states that streets named for John Fitzgerald Kennedy comes in at number 66. 
• The names of important Risorgimento (Italian unification) / Irredentism and political figures provide 50% of the top 20 names. 
• A full 75% of the top 20 are the names of people, specifically men. 
• Reference 2 reports that names of women make up 2.4 % of the total list of names and the first woman to appear is "Santa Maria" at 57th place. 
• The three "place" street names in the list (Roma, castello, chiesa) are all you would ever need in a town: how to get to Rome for business, how to get to church for absolution, and how to get to your nearby castle for protection. And rest assured, these streets take you there, if not quickly, at least eventually. (Not sure, but I'm guessing there isn't a via Roma in Rome.) 
• Score one for science! Guglielmo Marconi comes in high on the list, only behind Garibaldi, but before all others. 
• Other, older top street name lists are from 2011: Il Risorgimento scende in strada and 2005: I dieci nomi delle vie più diffusi in Italia. Their data is slightly different.

Categorizing the top 20 names gives us a handy list for a possible crash-course in Italian history.

Risorgimento / Irredentism: Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807 - 1882), Giuseppe Mazzini (1805 - 1872), Camillo Benso Conte di Cavour (1810 - 1861), Cesare Battisti (1875 - 1916)

Statesman: Giacomo Matteotti (1885 - 1924), Aldo Moro (1916 - 1978), Antonio Gramsci (1891 - 1931) , Alcide di Gasperi (1881 - 1954), Umberto I (1855 - 1900)

Artist / Scientist: Guglielmo Marconi (1874 - 1937), Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), Giuseppe Verdi (1813 - 1901), Alessandro Manzoni (1785 - 1873)

Place: Rome, Castello, Chiesa

WWI: IV Novembre (Armistice of Villa Giusti ending war between Italy and Austria, 1918), Piave (river and site of Italian victory over Austria in 1918), Vittorio Veneto (battle 1918)

Religion: Papa Giovanni XIII - pope (1958 - 1963)

I remember my first few times in Italy and the feeling of heaviness the names conveyed. I didn't know Battisti from Gramsci. After a year, they seemed less opque as I've began to slowly imbibe Italian history from friends and reading. Heavy, yes, but interesting I must say. Compare the top Italian street names with the bland, functional names of the top American street names (listed in ful below) like First, Second, Third, and so on. The streets of Italy are rich history lessons. Italians live their history daily.

The categories we give above, in particular, Risorgimento, Statesman, and Artist/Scientist, are our inventions, used for convenience. People or events in a category don't always neatly fit. Take for example Antonio Gramsci. Yes, in general, he was a statesman, but he was also a journalist, a linguist, and a philosopher - to name just a few other hats he wore. In the Risorgimento cateogry, conte di Cavor's was a businessman and politician as well as a key protagonist of the Risorgimento.

And sadly, there are not shortage of tragic stories in these street names, including Matteotti - murdered during a kidnap attempt by Fascist secret police, Moro - kidnapped and murdered, Gramsci - imprisoned the by Fascist government, which led to a serious decline in health and his death, and Umberto I - assassinated.

Bergamo Street Names

The following list of streets in Bergamo is not an official list. The names were not rigorously selected nor are they selected based on popularity or relevancy. Rather, they are simply streets in Bergamo Città Alta and Città Bassa that we've noted. Still, the list is interesting for two reasons. First, it confirms a similar pattern seen in the list of street names across Italy, that is, names honoring the Risorgimento, national statesman, and artists. Second, many Bergamo street names honor a local prominent citizens of the past, so that in these cases, there is a local history lesson. For example, streets in Bergamo honoring "locals" like Locatelli, Camozzi, or Colleoni are not found in the top 20 street names for all of Italy.

Bergamo street names honoring prominent local people and places:

Statesmen 

• Antonio Locatelli (1895 - 1936) 
• Gabriele Camozzi (1823 - 1869) 
• Francesco Cucchi (1834 - 1913) 
• Bartolomeo Colleoni (1395 - 1475) 
• Giacomo Costantino Beltrami (1779 - 1855) - patriot/explorer 
• More info about personaggi illustri or promiment citizens of Bergamo. 

Artists / Scientists 

• Girolamo Tiraboschi (1731 - 1794) - historian 
• Mario Lupo (1720 - 1789) - historian 
• Torquato Tasso (1544 - 1595) - poet 
• Giacomo Quarenghi (1744 - 1817) - architect 
• Andrea Fantoni (1659 - 1734) - sculptor 
• Giacomo Manzù (1908 - 1991) - sculptor 
• Evaristo Baschenis (1617 - 1677) - painter 
• Gianandrea Gavazzeni (1909 - 1996) - composer 
• Gaetano Donizetti (1797 - 1848) - composer 
• Simone Mayr (1763 - 1845) - composer 
• Antonio Stoppani (1824 - 1891) - scientist 
• Clara Maffei (1814 - 1886) - a woman of letters and important backer of the Risorgimiento 

Places 

• Viale delle Mura - runs along the top of the Venetian walls or "mura" of Città Alta, the wall of which are now officially a UNESCO site. 
• Via alla Rocca - takes you to the fortification called La Rocca. 
• Via della Fara - runs alongside the green space in Città Alta called the Fara. 

Religion 

• Papa Giovanni XXIII (1881 - 1963) - beloved pope from the Bergamo area; Bergamo's main hospital is named after him as well as many other buildings and organizations in Bergamo and around Italy. 
• Angelo Mai (1782 - 1854) - religious scholar; today the beautiful Biblioteca Angelo Mai carries his name as well. 
• Street Saints: Via Sant'Alessandro, Via S. Giovanni, Via S. Giacomo, Via San Salvatore, Via San Lorenzo, Via San Pancrazio, Largo di Porta S. Alessandro, Vicolo Sant'Andrea

American Street Names

In 1993, the U.S. Census released a tally of common street names (a scan someone made of the data; the original data is hard to find). In 2014, a new set of data was released. Both the 1993 and 2014 dat are discussed in two references we'll use here:

• Reference 1: An article in 538 What’s The Most Common Street Name In America?
• Reference 2: An article in the Washington Post We counted literally every road in America. Here's what we learned.

From Reference 1, we have the following top 20 street names (1993 data):

1. Second, 2nd 
2. Third, 3rd 
3. First, 1st 
4. Fourth, 4th 
5. Park 
6. Fifth, 5th 
7. Main 
8. Sixth, 6th 
9. Oak 
10. Seventh, 7th 
11. Pine 
12. Maple 
13. Cedar 
14. Eighth, 8th 
15. Elm 
16. View 
17. Washington 
18. Ninth, 9th 
19. Lake 
20. Hill

Categorizing the names as we did for Italian street names leads to:

Numbers: Second/2nd, Third/3rd, First/1st, Fourth/4th, Fifth/5th, Sixth/6th, Seventh/7th, Eight/8th, Ninth/9th

Trees: Oak, Pine, Maple, Cedar, Elm

Places: Park, Main, View, Lake, Hill

Statesmen: George Washington

Almost 50% (9/20) of the top 20 across all of America are numbered streets. Just one surname, Washington, appears in the top 20. If you look at the top 50 names, the numbers start to become less common, the tree and place names stay about the same, and more surnames start to creep in: Lincoln (#26), Jackson (#33), Johnson (#40), Jefferson (#42), and Wilson (#44).

For me, the numbers, trees, and place names used for American streets are a far cry from weighty Italian street names. Why that's the case I'm not sure and won't hazard any guesses.

Finally, Reference 2 for American street names gives information about variations in the top 10 names by state. While there are variations between states, the top 10 lists are consistent in their use of numbers, trees, and places. What variations there are speak a little to history and surroundings. For example, Arizona has "Apache" and "Mesquite" while Hawaii has "Aloha" and "Lehua". Connecticut has neither, or at least in the top 10.

Hike: Passo Porcile and Rifugio Dordona from Foppolo

Overview | The Hike | Flora and Fungi

Left: The route from Foppolo to Rifugio Dordona and back. Right: View of Laghi di Porcile from Passo Porcile.

Overview

Length: 12 km (7.5 mi)
Duration: ~ 5.5 hours walking time, 4 hours before lunch, 1.5 hours after lunch
Elevation: 1625 m (5,330 ft) @ Foppolo, 2316 m (7,598 ft) @ Passo dei Lupi. Total elevation gain of 1310m (4,298 ft).
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Alta Valle Brembana

The Hike

This was day two of two days of hiking in Foppolo. The first day we hiked to Lago Moro above Foppolo. See that post for details on how to get to Foppolo by bus. One of the reasons why we planned two days here – besides getting in more hiking – is that the bus schedule between Bergamo and Foppolo didn't allow enough time in one day to get in a good hike.

After a day of hiking about 11 km, we stayed the night in Foppolo at Hotel Adler. It was nice because we seemed to be the only guests and had it to ourselves. We had a good dinner there too.

Day two’s hike was built around a lunch stop at Rifugio Dordona. We took Sentiero 201 toward Passo Tartano and then switched to Sentiero 201a toward Passo di Dordona. Just before reaching Passo di Dordona, you take a slight detour to reach Rifugio Dordona. From Passo Dordona it’s Sentiero 202 back to Foppolo.

Flora and Fungi

Flora: [Asteraceae] Hieracium intybaceum – Whitish Hawkweed (Italiao: Sparviere cicoriaceo)

Flora: [Campanulaceae] Phyteuma sp.

Flora: [Ranunculaceae] Aconitum napellus – Monk’s-Hood (Italian: Aconito napello)

Fungi: [Boletaceae] Boletus sp. Given that it was found under a pine tree, we are guessing it is Boletus pinophilus. It was found by local man we met on the trail.



Left: Aconitum napellus – Monk’s-Hood (Italian: Aconito napello). Center and right: [Asteraceae] Hieracium intybaceum – Whitish Hawkweed (Italiao: Sparviere cicoriaceo).


Left: [Campanulaceae] Phyteuma sp. Center left: Boletus sp. Given that it was found under a pine tree, perhaps Boletus pinophilus. Center right: A rock-piece of iron ore under Monte Capelle. Right: Trail signs at Passo (or Bocchetta) dei Lupi (2316 m).


Left: Lunch at Rifugio Dordona - polenta with stinco da maile and risotto with sausage and red wine. Center left: Grappa Nostrana al Larice - "Our grappa made from larch" pine cones at Rifugio Dordona. Very good! Center: Tunnel in the WWI trenches at Passo di Dordona. Center right: WWI trench at Passo di Dordona. Right: Mules watching us on Sentiero 201 up to Passo di Porcile.


Left: Sentiero 201 above Foppolo and mules. Center: Coming down from Passo dei Lupi toward Rifugio Dordona. Right: Sentiero 201 just above Foppolo, close to where porcino was found.


The finish of the hike on Sentiero 202 heading down toward Foppolo.

A Hike to Lago Moro above Foppolo

Overview | The Town | The Hike | Flora and Fauna

Left: Route from Foppolo to Lago Moro. Right: View from above Lago Moro looking north toward Monte Disgrazia.

Overview

Length: 11 km (6.8 mi)
Duration: ~ 5.25 hours walking time, 1.25 hours before lunch, 4 hours after lunch
Elevation: 1625 m (5,330 ft) @ Foppolo, 2500 m (8,200 ft) @ above Lago Moro. Total elevation gain of 1026 m (3360 ft).
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Alta Valle Brembana

The Town

Foppolo is a small village located 60 miles north of Bergamo in the upper Val Brembana. In winter, it is one of the most important ski centers in the Bergamo Alps. You can reach Foppolo by bus from Bergamo in about two hours, which is how we got there. From Bergamo, take Linea B (for Brembana) to Piazza Brembana and then transfer to the bus heading for Branzi-Carona-Foppolo.

The location around Foppolo is spectacular: the mountains are beautiful and the views, when you get up high, are some of the best we’ve seen. However, it is primarily a ski-town, and ski-towns can (and in this case did) have a number of things against them from a hiker’s point of view.

First, there’s the architecture. Foppolo’s architecture – dedicated to skiing – is a combination of atrocious and bizarre, with hotels resembling part chalet, part bunker, and part high-rise prison. We stayed in one of these places one night and the service and accommodations were great, just that their outsides are brutal looking. Secondly, hiking on or near ski slopes in the summer is always a delusion for us. The slopes look like war zones in the summer. The chaotic, bedraggled looking slopes was admittedly softened by the pasturing cows and the sounds of their bells. In the summer, the cows rule the slopes!

To make matters worse, the slopes above Foppolo are in the midst of a massive-but-halted construction of a new gondola. Huge pits were dug for support beams and then stopped. The future of the gondola at time of writing is uncertain due to funding.



Left: Cows on the ski slopes above Foppolo. Center: Above the ski slopes near Corno Stella, a view toward Monte Disgrazia and Valtellina. Right: View from Lago Moro south toward Branzi.

Another knock on ski towns: they have layouts that make no sense unless you are on skis. The entrance to the hotel we were staying at took us 10 minutes to find. The main entrance was turned towards the slopes, but we were trying to enter from the road. After walking back and forth we saw a little sign that we followed up four flights of stairs to the other side of the hotel. Viola, entrance!

The Hike

When we stepped off the bus in Piazzale degli Alberghi, the upper part of Foppolo, it was like stepping into a ghost town. For half a second, I thought about getting back on the bus for Bergamo. The town was much livelier the previous week with families and vacationers taking their last bit of vacation before heading back home to get ready for the start of school and work. Today, the town and its hotels and restaurants were taking a respite and counting the days before snow arrived to bring in the winter crowd.

We found a seat on the edge of the big asphalt piazza and got changed for the hike. When we went to find the start of the trail, we became confused. We asked a few people we found sitting outside at a bar and they help us get oriented. One of the guys asked us where we were from, and then told us he had been to Seattle and gushed about beautiful it was. Ah Seattle.

This was day one of two day stay in Foppolo. For this first day, since we arrived in Foppolo around 1:00 pm, we  didn’t plan on anything big or interesting. Yet, this walk turned out to quite scenic. Fresh off the bus, changed and oriented in the right direction by some helpful locals, we headed up to Rifugio Montebello (Terrazzo Salomon) for a quick lunch. It took about one hour and 15 minutes to get to the rifugio on foot, through the war zone called a summer ski slope. We followed a combination of Sentiero 204 and Sentiero 205 and a bit of just going straight up the slope. This was the least interesting part of the hike.

After lunch at Montebello, we headed to Lago Moro (dark lake) continuing on Sentiero 204. This is where the scenery became much nicer and the goal of the hike. At Lago Moro, we took a side trip partway up to the famous Corno Stella (Orobie). Then we came back to Lago Moro and picked up Sentiero 204a back to Montebello and down to Foppolo. Sentiero 204a takes you up to Passo di Valcervia (2318 m) for beautiful views north towards Valtellina and Switzerland.

Flora and Fauna and Fungi

Flora-wise, we didn’t really see that much, though it was the first time we’ve seen Hieracium intybaceum – Whitish Hawkweed (Sparviere cicoriaceo) and Leucanthemopsis alpina – Alpine Moon Daisy (Margherita alpina), both part of the daisy family. Fungus-wise, we saw a whole lot of what we think is the fungus Exobasidium rhododendri on Alpenrose (Rododendron ferrugineum). And finally, fauna-wise, we saw about ten chamoix around Lago Moro. They seemed curious about us. If we stopped and stared at them, they stared right back. It was usually us who blinked first.

Fauna: [Bovidae] Rupicapra rupicapra – Chamois (Camoscio alpino)
Flora: [Asteraceae] Carlina sp. likely C.acaulis – Stemless Carline Thistle (Carlina bianca)
Flora: [Asteraceae] Hieracium intybaceum – Whitish Hawkweed (Sparviere cicoriaceo)
Flora: [Asteraceae] Leucanthemopsis alpina – Alpine Moon Daisy (Margherita alpina)
Flora: [Campanulaceae] Campanula barbarta – Bearded Bellflower (Campanula barbata)
Flora: [Gentianaceae] Gentianella germanica – Chiltern Gentian (Genzianella tedesca)
Flora: [Polyganaceae] Rumex alpinus – Munk’s Rhubarb, Alpine Dock (Romice acetosella)
Fungi: [Exobasidiaceae] Exobasidium rhododendri on Rhododendron ferrugineum



Left: Carlina with butterflies. Center left: Campanula barbarta – Bearded Bellflower (Campanula barbata). Center right: Exobasidium rhododendri on Rhododendron ferrugineum. Right: Gentianella germanica – Chiltern Gentian (Genzianella tedesca). I was surprised to see a flowers with four and five petals on the same plant.  Open question: a plant with all flowers of four petals would then be G. campestris.


Left and center left:  Hieracium intybaceum – Whitish Hawkweed (Sparviere cicoriaceo). Center right: Leucanthemopsis alpina – Alpine Moon Daisy (Margherita alpina). Right: Rumex alpinus – Munk’s Rhubarb, Alpine Dock (Romice acetosella) on Sentiero 203.


Photos of chamoix above Foppolo. Left: A chamois scurries away near Lago Moro. Center: A chamois making its way down to Lago Moro from Corno Stella. Right: Mother and baby chamois going down to Lago Moro.


Walking around Lago Moro. Left: Above Lago Moro. Center: Walking from Rifugio Montebello to Lago Moro. Right: Heading back to Rifugio Montebello on Sentiero 203.


Left and center left: Lunch at Rifugio Montebello, polenta and slow-cooked beef, pizzoccheri (pasta of buckwheat), and chocolate cake. Center right: Signs at bottom of ski slope pointing the way up to Rifugio Montebello and Lago Moro. Right: Walking on part of Corno Stella above Lago Moro.


Starting the climb up Corno Stella.

A Hike from Passo Presolana to Rifugio Rino Olmo to Castione della Presolana

Overview | Details | Flora

Left: The annotated hike route around Presolana. Right: A view from trail 327 east toward Malga della Presolana.

Overview

Length: 14 km (8.7 mi)
Duration: 4.8 hours, 3 hours before lunch, 1.8 hours after lunch
Elevation: Max elevation 2230 m (7,316 ft) Grotta dei Pagani, minimum elevation 874 m (2,867 ft) Castione della Presolana, cumulative elevation gain 1230 m (4,035 ft), lost 1651 m (5,417 ft)
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Bergamo Province, Alta Val Seriana

Details

In a nutshell, the hike was this:

Bergamo Bus Station -> Cantoniera della Presolana (Passo della Presolana) -> Sentiero 315 -> Grotta dei Pagani -> Sentiero 320 -> Rifugio Rino Olmo -> Sentiero 327 -> Sentiero 317 -> Rusio -> Castione della Presolana -> Bergamo Bus Station.

We decided to do this hike counterclockwise and end up in Castione della Presolana rather than starting there because the bus connections back to Bergamo were better from Castione. To get to Passo Presolana take the Linea S route to Clusone and then change to the Linea S70a, which goes over the pass (see BergamoTrasporti.it). Let the bus driver know you want Passo Presolana when you get on the bus in Bergamo, because as in our case, the connection was close and he honked at the other driver to wait for us.

We did the start of this hike before (see Hiking Below Pizzo della Presolana) but didn’t make it far. This time, we were set on going to Rifugio Olmo for lunch. It’s all about the food.
The trails were fine at this time of the year and signed well. We wanted to check out Grotta dei Pagani, but you can avoid that scramble up the scree if you are not interested. The grotta is a small cave and nothing that special. Perhaps we are a tad sour on the cave because one of us dropped a phone and that was the end of life for it. It put a little bit of a damper on the rest of the hike.

Presolana is the located in the Bergamasque Prealps in the province of Bergamo. It has a similar limestone composition as the Dolomites located in northeastern Italy. The Italian Wiki page for Presolana gives a number of possible etymologies for its name. The one I found most plausible (because legends and spirits don’t sit well with me as explanations) is that Presolana is derived from the dialect praizzöla (in Italian praticciolo) due to the small prati (meadows) on Presolana’s slopes, several which this hike takes you through or are visible from the trail. Prati plus the diminutive icciolo basically meaning little meadow. It’s a small step sound-wise from praizzöla to Presolana.


Left: At Passo della Presolana, coffee and cake before starting the hike. Center left: Tagliatelle fatta in casa with mushroom and cream sauce at Rifugio Olmo. Center right: Slow cooked beef, polenta and cheese. Right: Dessert at Rifugio Olmo.

While we reached 2259 m (7411 ft) at Grotta dei Pagani, the peaks of Presolana were still higher by a couple hundred meters. We didn’t go up.

The advantage of this hike routing is beautiful scenery and you don’t have to double back and repeat a trail. The disadvantage is that the part from Malga del Campo (about 30 minutes after Rifugio Olmo on the way to Rusio) is kind of boring. It’s mostly on a road that is roughly paved with large stones and cement.

Flora

For help identifying plant on hikes around Bergamo, see the post Resources for Identifying Plants around Bergamo.

Key: [Family] Genus species – Common name in English (Common name in Italian)

[Asteraceae] Arctium nemorosum – Burdock (Bardana selvatica)
[Asteraceae] Carlina acaulis – Stemless Carline Thistle (Carlina bianca) – could be subsp. acaulis
[Campanulaceae] Campanula trachelium - Nettle-Leaved Bellflower (Campanula selvatica)
[Gentianaceae] Gentiana asclepiadea - Willow Gentian (Genziana di Esculapio)
[Gentianaceae] Gentianella germanica – Chiltern Gentian (Genzianella tedesca)
[Lamiaceae] Clinopodium alpinum – Alpine Calamint (Acino alpino)
[Lamiaceae] Salvia glutinosa – Sticky Sage, Yellow Sage (Salvia vischiosa)
[Lamiaceae] Stachys pradica – (Betonica densiflora, Betonica del monte Prada)
[Papaveraceae] Corydalis lutea – Yellow Corydalis (Colombina gialla)
[Primulaceae] Cyclamen purpurascens - Cyclamen (Ciclamino delle Alpi)
[Rosaceae] Dryas octopetala – White Dryas (Camedrio alpino)
[Saxifragaceae] Saxifraga paniculata – Encrusted or Livelong Saxifrage (Sassifraga pannocchiuta)
[Scrophulariaceae] Rhinanthus alectorolophus – Greater Yellow Rattle (La cresta di gallo comune)
[Scrophulariaceae] Verbascum nigrum – Dark Mullein (Verbasco nero) - could be V. alpinum



Left: Arctium nemorosum – Burdock (Bardana selvatica). Center: Carlina acaulis – Stemless Carline Thistle (Carlina bianca) – could be subsp. acaulis. Right: Cirsium - Thistle.


Left and center left: Clinopodium alpinum – Alpine Calamint (Acino alpino). Center: Dryas octopetala – White Dryas (Camedrio alpino). Center: Salvia glutinosa – Sticky Sage, Yellow Sage (Salvia vischiosa). Right: Stachys pradica – (Betonica densiflora, Betonica del monte Prada).


Left: Saxifraga paniculata – Encrusted Saxifrage, Livelong Saxifrage (Sassifraga pannocchiuta) lime-encrusted leaves. Center left: Gentiana asclepiadea - Willow Gentian (Genziana di Esculapio). Center: Verbascum nigrum – Dark Mullein (Verbasco nero) - could be V. alpinum. Center right: Campanula trachelium - Nettle-Leaved Bellflower (Campanula selvatica).  Right: Cyclamen purpurascens - Cyclamen (Ciclamino delle Alpi) - bloom time August and September.


Left: Corydalis lutea – Yellow Corydalis (Colombina gialla). Center: Gentianella germanica – Chiltern Gentian (Genzianella tedesca). Right: Rhinanthus alectorolophus – Greater Yellow Rattle (La cresta di gallo commune).


Left: Road to Rusio, Trail 317. Center: Coming down from Grotta dei Pagani and heading toward Rifugio Olmo. Right: Just below Baita Cassinelli.


Left: Upper and lower paths leading to Passo di Pozzera. Center: View from Passo di Pozzera toward Malga della Presolana. Right: Approaching Rifugio Rino Olmo.


Left and center:Views toward bivuoac Citta di Clusone on trail 315. Right: Map showing the Presolana zone with ridge lines and trails.