A Walk to Alzano Lombardo for Lunch – Burro and No-News

  

Left: Oak trees on Colle di Ranica, Bergamo.
Center:  A horse and a pond.
Right:  A farm above Ranica, Bergamo.

We needed to get out and we wanted to eat somewhere interesting. So, we came up with the idea to go have lunch at Burro (Sardinian restaurant) in Alzano Lombardo. To arrive there, we walked from Bergamo passing through Maresana (trail 533), Colle di Ranica, Croce del Boscone (710m), and then finally dropping down into Alzano. We took the tram back to Bergamo. (You can just as well take the tram both ways.)

Duration: 2.25 hours - one way walking
Elevation: 505 m
Length: 11.4 km - one way going
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Alzano Lombardo

Burro

We had a memorable dinner at Burro back in April and decided to try it again for lunch. And we weren’t disappointed. We did the 3-choice lunch menu paired with a nice French apple cider, Cidrerie du Leguer.

Burro is located about 10 minutes slightly uphill from the Alzano Lombardo tram stop. The Linea T1 tram runs between Bergamo and Albino, with two stops for Alzano.

We highly recommend a visit. Okay, so that’s the Burro part of this post. 

  

Examples of dishes at Burro (Sardinian restaurant) in Alzano Lombardo. Left: Soupe à l'oignon, stilton, pasta sfoglia al semi di sesamo. Center: Fregola, spada alla marinara e cozze. Right: Controfiletto di manzo e pure di patate.   

No-News

Part of the motivation to do this hike was to get out of the house and away from the news. The doom and gloom headlines - at least in the media we are consuming – are tiring. If we see another headline that includes the word “shocking” in response to a certain orange-headed person’s action, we are going to lose it. It would truly be shocking if people were ready for the shit coming their way and had a response ready.

We calculated that we wasted hundreds of hours consuming news (much of it, election related) over the last year. What do we have to show for it? Did the constant daily check-in of the horse race help us? We don’t think so. Yes, we need to be informed but perhaps in a different way.

  

Three book covers: Partisan Nation, Nexus, and Why Information Grows.

In the post-election weeks, we funneled much of our previous news-consumption (attention) to books. Here are a few that have helped us understand what has happened and more importantly have kept us from mindlessly consuming news. 

Partisan Nation: The Dangerous New Logic of American Politics in a Nationalized Era (2024) by Paul Pierson, Eric Schickler.

• If you want a good understanding of polarization in the US and a historical context, this is the book for you.
• There are lots of little gems in this book like this “A common denominator across the recent changes in state parties, interest groups, and the press is that they have fostered a decline in credible, alternative cue givers that in the past created pathways for voters to embrace policies or issues that cut across existing partisan lines.

Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI (2024) by Yuval Noah Harari.

• Harari explores how information networks have shaped human societies from the Stone Age to the present. T he book discusses how different societies and political systems have used information to achieve their goals, for both good and ill.
• To this last point, Harari talks about information flow in democratic, autocratic, and totalitarian systems.  Thinking about our current polarization these lines stood out for me: "Democratic [information] networks assume that everyone is fallible, and that includes even the winners of elections and the majority of voters." And "Simplicity is a characteristic of dictatorial information networks in which the center dictates everything and everybody silently obeys."

Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order from Atoms to Economies (2015) by César A. Hidalgo.

• An exploration of how information and order emerge and grow in the universe, particularly in the context of economic development.
• Key quote: “To battle disorder and allow information to grow, our universe has a few tricks up its sleeve. These tricks involve out-of-equilibrium systems, the accumulation of information in solids, and the ability of matter to compute. Together these three mechanisms contribute to the growth of information in small islands or pockets where information can grow and hide, like our body or planet.”
• We have been on an entropy kick. When we studied entropy back in the day, there was not YouTube to explain things in ways that books couldn’t quite do. Case in point, videos like Arvin Ash: How Did Life Arise from Increasing Entropy?, Arvin Ash: The Stunning link between Entropy, time & information | Science behind Tenet, Big Think: The physics of entropy and the origin of life | Sean Carroll, and Veritasium: The Most Misunderstood Concept in Physics.

 Remember: attention is not a infinite so don't waste yours.

  

Left: The tracks for this hike.

Center: Sign at Croce di Boscone.

Right: Descending into Alzano Lombardo.
  

Bergamo Street Sign Language Lesson XLVII - Birthday Party Invitation

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In this Bergamo Street Sign Language Lesson (TM) we analyze how to say you will or will not come to a birthday party.

We were on a group WhatsApp chat inviting many people to a birthday party. What stood out for me were the ways to say that you are or are not coming. Also, ways to say thank you. (For more on that, see Thanks for All the Fish: How to Say Thank You in Italian With the Prepositions di, per, or a.)

An aside:

We just finished reading the book Seizing the Enigma: The Race to Break the German U-Boat Codes, 1939–1943 (2011) by David Khan. In that book, you learn about the incredible effort to unlock the German naval codes to stop the disastrous sinking of Allied ships in the North Atlantic. (We were surprised how close German U-boats came to points on the east coast, blowing up ships within the glow of major USA cities!) 

In a very simplistic way, we feel like those involved in codebreaking at Bletchley Park (Britain) or later at the US Signal intelligence Service at Arlington Hall, Virginia. We look at these birthday greetings like codes to crack because and understand because we never feel secure of what we are hearing or saying. 😘

With no further ado:

I/we are coming:

Ciao, mi dispiace ma non riusciamo😞
Io assente
Ciao Xxxx, mi spiace ma siamo già impegnati 😢 Grazie comunque per l’invito 😘
Ciao Xxxx, purtroppo abbiamo già un impegno. Grazie lo stesso e buoni festeggiamenti!! 🥳🍾🍸
Ciao Miss Xxxx, anche non ci saremo ma ti facciamo tanti cari auguri 🥳
Cara Xxxx purtroppo non riusciremo a esserci sabato. Grazie dell’invito e buoni festeggiamenti 😘
Sono via...
Ciao principessa noi non ci siamo mandiamo tantissimi auguri 🥰🥂

I’m/we are coming:

Ci sono, ci siamo
Io presente
Presenti
Anche noi
Yuppi! Come poter mancare!
Noi presente 🙋🏽‍♀️🎉

 
Right: An AI-birthday cake and a depiction of my mind (a la Enigma machine) decoding the Italian language.

Bergamo Street Sign Language Lesson XLVI

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Our 46th edition of Street Sign Language Lesson. All these signs were seen in and around Bergamo.


TRASLOCO IN CORSO – ABBIATE PIETA’
“Moving in progress, show mercy”

Having moved recently, we completely understand the sentiment in this sign. Who likes moving? Abbiate is the plural “you” imperative of the verb avere - to have.



BASTONE DA PASSEGGIO. HO IL PIEDE BASCULANTE.
“Walking cane. I have an articulating base.”

This ad, seen in a farmacia on via Tasso, has the walking cane talking to us telling us what it can do and its features. Sto in piedi da solo – “I stand up by myself”. Sono regolabile – “I am adjustable”.

The use of basculante - “tilting” threw us off. We confess we did a Google search on this one and then figured out that the foot (piede) of the cane articulates and tilts in different directions.

 
ACCHIAPPA GLI SCONTI. SCANSIONA E COLLEZIONA I QR CODE
“Catch the discounts. Scan and collect the QR codes.”

Acchiappare - “grab or snatch” is a word that never rolls off our tongue. It’s used in compound nouns like dreamcatcher or acchiappasogni, fly swatter or acchiappamosche (or schiacciamosche which we like better!). And Gli Acchiappagiochi - “the game catchers” is a cartoon on RAI.

The verb chiappare means the same as acchiappare but is less frequently used and is more colloquial. The prefix “ac” means “to” or “towards” and intensifies the meaning of a verb it is used with, making it more emphatic. To add to our confusion, chiappa means “butt cheek”. Acchiappachiappa means butt catcher?

ATTENZIONE: PREGHIAMO CHI PASSA, PER FAVORE, DI USARE UN TONO DI VOCE RISPETTOSO DEL RIPOSO ALTRUI!
“Attention: We kindly ask those passing by to lower their voice to not disturb the sleep of others!”

This sign was seen on a posh residence on Via Valverde. I wonder how many people see the sign and lower their voices? After all these years, we still see the verb pregare (preghiamo – first person plural) and think “praying to people who pass by”? That is true in a religious sense, but also means to ask (chiedere - to ask) in a courteous way. You might see this kind of request done less directly (and more impersonally) using the impersonal form si prega as shown elsewhere in this post.

#NonCiCasco – CAMPAGNA PER LA PREVENZIONE DELLE CADUTE DALL’ALTO.
“I’m not falling for it – campaign for the prevention from falls from height”

We admit, this was a bit awkward to translate exactly. “Fall from height” seems to be used in the USA, for example, see this NIH report with the abbreviation FFH. Okay, we'll go with that but, it doesn’t sound good to our ears. In Italian, the phrase caduta dall’alta (plural cadute dell’alto) is used.

The sign shown here was attached to scaffolding on Via Pignolo. There is a campaign to raise awareness about work site injuries due to falls. The hashtag pulled apart becomes (io) non ci casco, which means “I’m not falling for it” used when you don’t believe something, but in this case falling means literally from heights. Clever. Cascare means "to fall, to fall down". Cascarci means "to fall into a trap".

While we are talking about falls, let’s mention the interesting Marina Abramović show at gres Art 671 called “between breath and fire” (14.09.24 - 16.02.25). The show includes the film “Seven Deaths”, of which one death is “The Jump” - speaking of fall from height. Arbamović falls in slow motion from a skyscraper in a fictious city. #LeiCiCasca?

La catechesi dei ragazzi anche quest’anno sarà il mercoledì alle ore 16:45 e il venerdì alle ore 15:00
“Children’s catechism this year will be Wednesdays at 4:45pm and Fridays at 3:00pm.”

La catechesi – means “catechism”. Don’t know what that means? It’s those strange afterschool teachings about the principles of Christian religion that one of us had to go to during 7th and 8th grade.

We saw this sign on the duomo in Bergamo. For the record, my lessons were on Wednesdays. I guess some things never change.



Se non disdici, paghi lo stesso
“If you don’t cancel, you pay all the same”

The healthcare system in Italy is known as the Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN). It is a national, universal healthcare system that provides residents with free or low-cost healthcare services. This includes access to general practitioners, treatment at public hospitals, subsidized medicines, lab services, ambulance services, and certain specialist care.

One thing that can be frustrating in the Italian system is waiting times for appointments. Waiting time means the number of days that elapse between the date of booking and the date of the actual health service. The date that is provided to citizens is the first date available to carry out the requested service. Think skin check or colonoscopy as examples of services.

We learned from a retired doctor in Bergamo that booked appointments that are no-shows (up to 20% at one point) is a significant inefficiency in the system and contributes to longer waiting times. In the past, you could book an appointment and not show up. The sign shown in the photo is warning people that now you will pay if you don’t show up. This is thanks to a new law “Decreto Legge del 07/06/2024, n. 73”.

Disdire - “to cancel or annul”. Present tense: disdico, disdici, disdice, disdiciamo, disdite, disdicono.


 
Si prega di mantenere controllato il monitor e attendere il proprio turno.
“Please keep an eye on the monitor and wait for your turn.”

Speaking of healthcare in Italy: one must get used to these monitors and their split-flap display sound. The metallic flapping sound is artificial in these monitors and is only used to draw your attention to updates.

When this photo was taken, we were waiting for our turn to visit a doctor. Not all providers in the Italian healthcare system use these monitors, but many do (as well as other institutions). Waiting in Italy is sort of a national pastime.

You typically start your healthcare appointment by getting a ticket with a letter-number combination on it. This letter-number combination is what you are looking for on the monitors.

In this sign, you are advised to keep watching the monitor because the order that tickets were issued may not be the order of service. This monitor was seen in Bergamo’s main hospital: ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII.

While waiting for our turn, I wondered about the grammar on this sign. In particular, I had a hard time with controllato wanting instead to see controllo. The phrase si prega di mantenere can be followed by a noun, adjective or adverb. In this case, controllato is an adjective and il monitor is the thing on which an eye is kept.

Bet you didn’t know going to a doctor’s appointment could be so much fun.

Notes on Deaths and Houses

Missing the missing ~ Our house ~ Deaths in houses ~

Closures ~ Photo justice ~ Flutes and whistles

We sold our house. In the middle of preparations to do that my father died. I was surprised that I was more upset over the loss of our house. Before you think of me a cold-hearted person, please let me explain, because I’ve had many years of mourning for my dad but not for the house.

Missing the missing

My dad and I were not close. I loved him and he loved me, but we weren’t close. I wish we had been. He was somewhat present when I was growing up, but we were 4 kids, he was running a business, he participated in the Lion's Club and Elk's Club, he liked to bowl and golf, and he had a situation at home that made it easy for him to want to stay away. A less-than-civil divorce when I was 14 didn't help matters. Could I have reasonably expected that after the divorce our relationship would have improved? No.

After some initial anger, I accepted that we just didn't have that relationship like some of my friends had with their dads. 

I little tinge of regret came back to me seeing my younger stepbrother at dad’s funeral. He was born from a subsequent marriage, which also ended in divorce but much more amicably. He grew up close to our dad, who gave him more attention than he ever gave me, at least by my reckoning. I’m happy that my stepbrother had that.

My stepbrother would be missing dad more than me. Being at the funeral service was more visceral for him and more abstract for me. I didn't have to go back to dad’s house and see dad's last cigarette in the ashtray. My stepbrother did.

Some math. My dad died at almost 90 years old. The first and last 30 years of my dad’s life trumped the middle 30 if you ask me, and I suppose in a way that was good because he seemed to achieve some degree of happiness in those two non-consecutive 30 years spans. The first 30 years: young, handsome and happy-go-lucky. The last 30 years: successful third marriage and family life. Unfortunately, I appeared in my dad’s life in that second 30-year span that wasn’t so happy – again, my opinion. The second 30-year span had lots of chaos and a bitter (upgraded the adjective thinking about it) divorce. After the acrimonious (new adjective) divorce, our relationship never went beyond an already limited one. So yeah, I loved my dad and miss him but had been missing him for some time.

A bright spot: in the last few years, we started to get a little closer as adults, with less focus on the past. Unfortunately, that getting closer got cut short with a call one morning on my last birthday with news of his death.

Despite the period of my dad’s life I appeared in, it nevertheless felt awkward that I wasn’t consulted in writing or contributing or reviewing the obituary or for any funeral arrangements. I know that the last 30 years of my dad’s life were important, but to write my siblings and me (of the same mother) off seemed to be an oversight. Perusing the photo boards posted at the service, out of 250+ photos I saw four of me and zero of my partner of 35 years. The lack of photo representation emphasized what I guess I already knew: my relationship with dad was tenuous. But what does it matter now, it’s just a photo board my partner - voice of reason - reminds me one day months after the service.

Our house

My partner and I lived in our house in Seattle, ironically, for about 30 years. We fell in love with the house at first sight. We lovingly remodeled it and had many good times in the house. You could say we had a strong relationship with the house. We had skin in the game with it. It was our first home that we owned. We grew up in the house so to speak.

Selling it was bittersweet. It was sadder that my dad’s passing in a way because there was more “relationship” lost in selling. And the loss was fresh, rawer.

But really, the selling of a house affected me more than my own father’s passing? I struggled to slap myself out of this feeling, but I couldn’t.

Unfortunately, my dad never came to visit my house, my life in Seattle. Yes, it was 3,000 miles away but so was my sister’s house and he visited her, and she didn’t even bother to come to the funeral. Harrumph!

The last 30-years, my dad and I lived separate lives.

Deaths in houses

There was a death in our house in 1967. The newspaper article said the owner went into a room and gunshots were heard by his wife who discovered him dead. So many questions. Should we include it in the history of the house that we created for the buyers or let them discover that themselves? What room did that exactly happen in, not that we ever experienced any bad juju in any room of the house. Did his wife ever sleep in that room again if it occurred in the bedroom? Was their marriage good?

One place where the marriage wasn’t good was in the house I grew up in. That house in the unpleasant (stop!) divorce went to my mother as did the kids. You could say my parents’ marriage metaphorically died in that house and we lived in the carcass of the marriage for many years. It takes two to tango, but a carcass is a carcass.

I remember many things about the house I grew up in. Three in particular: the wood-paneled Pledge® scented hallway, the day the house got assembled (it arrived in pieces I’m not kidding!), and the night my dad left. He left with a bunch of clothes in his arms. He asked for my help carrying stuff to the car. His car was parked in front of the house, the spot usually reserved for visitors. Clothes thrown in back, he peeled off in his car never to come back. It was 1978.

Another memory of that childhood house: I never saw my dad happily saunter down that wood-paneled hallway to the bedroom; my parents never slept together as far as I remember. They were seldom affectionate and loving. How awful for them. How awful for us kids. I hope that wasn’t bad juju for the next owners.

What little information I could get about my dad’s death, I learned he died at home, in his sleep with the TV on. He died just 2 miles away from the house he left in 1978. For all intents and purposes, it could have been 3,000 miles away.

 

Closures

Recently, I started to realize that who is with you at “the end” often drives who writes your story and closes out your life. My dad’s new family (the last 30-year span of his life) took care of everything for him during the last years of his life: finances, funeral, and the legal aftermath. From my outsider perspective, there seems to have been a genuine and loving sense of bonding between my dad and his third wife, and the blended family of his third wife’s family combined with my stepbrother from my dad’s second marriage. A pleasant last 30 years in all. Hooray dad, you got there!

When he passed, my involvement was nothing more than showing up and being present as best as I could at the funeral service. It was awkward to be at the funeral, but I wanted to be there. I needed the closure. The whole affair made me wonder who I’d be with toward the end of my life. What stories will be told, and which stories will be omitted after I'm gone? Who will be left off of my photo boards?

A story that reared its head at the funeral was something of a origin story for my dad in those last 30 years. It was an unpleasant event that took place sometime around the divorce that involved my dad, some family members, and an unwarranted pummeling. I wasn’t there. I only heard the story recounted by my dad, multiple times and in tears. It was a formative if not an extremely unnerving event for him. Many in the last third of his life knew of this event, or some version of it. Still, it was tacky and unwarranted when the spouse of a stepsister I didn’t know greeted me with the question “Why did it happen?” referring to the story. If she needed some form of closure, I could offer none.

The probate hearing for dad’s estate was on the same day we sold our house. Closures! We were on pins and needles most of the day waiting to hear news about the house. We did not worry about or attend the probate hearing.

In the final days of closing our house and saying goodbye, we had – what seemed like at the time – a flood of visitors who wanted to stop by and spend time with us. I was less than a gracious host. I kept wondering why is it now that everyone wants to come over? I just wanted to mope around the house the last weeks and days of our ownership saying goodbye in my own way, not serving people and cleaning up after parties. Then it occurred to me that these friends being there at the end (really a send-off of the house) were the right people to be there to help close out the house’s story.

 

Photo justice

As we got closer to selling our house, I ran around taking pictures and videos of everything I could. I wanted to capture the house, so I’d never forget it. Yet in the back of my mind, I knew it was a fool’s errand to try to remember something too well. It’s okay if the house like my dad are hazy recollections. Better for nostalgia to fill in and soften the reality.

My dad had a set of (photographic) slides mostly from the first 30 years of his life – happy times. Those slides were of his time in the army based in Germany and his travels around Europe. Scratched up and dirty slides of dad in front of the “Little Mermaid” in Copenhagen, dad on skis in some Italian alpine resort, dad on the Amalfi Coast, dad in Paris, dad in front of 10 Downing Street. Ironically, these are all places I would eventually visit in my travels.

The night my dad left with with his clothes in arms, those slides were not part of his exit. He longed for those slides for years and would ask about them repeatedly. Maybe he wanted some proof of his happiness in those first 30 years? 

My answer each time he asked me was “I don’t know anything about them.” And I really didn’t. Then one day 20 odd years after the divorce, the slides magically were shown to me in a sort of oh-by-the-way look at this. Were the slides kept out of malice or simply misplaced?

I sincerely hope my dad didn’t think I was a useless apparatchik, just following orders. I really didn’t know about those slides and was appalled to find out about their existence. I could appreciate the importance of those photos for him as photos are also important to me. To make some attempt at amends, I personally returned the slides and digital versions of them. A small gesture for closure.

Flutes and whistles

The Dead Can Dance song “Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Rules” (Aion 1990) has the lines:

“Fortune presents gifts
Not according to the book
When you expect whistles it's flutes
When you expect flutes it's whistles”

The song’s text comes from a poem “Da bienes Fortuna” by Spanish Poet, Luis de Gongora (1561 – 1627). The poem explores the theme of fortune and how she bestows gifts unpredictably.

We must comply with fortune’s gifts. This is one way to think about the relationship with my dad. It was what it was. The relationship we never had was partly my fault, partly his fault, and partly (okay largely) external actors. Some of these external actors decided to put a monkey wrench in the relationship machinery for reasons I will never begin to understand nor want to at this point. Fortune wasn’t feeling generous.

Despite the wrench in the machinery, what I do know about dad, I feel like we have a lot in common. And that makes me sad to not have understood that sooner and at a deeper level. The times I spent with my dad, I found him to be a decent person, not malicious and willing to help others. That’s all good in my book, fortune be damned.

Travelmarx Fall 2024 Playlist - Goodbye House

36 album covers for Travelmarx Fall 2024 Playlist – Goodbye House

As usual, our playlists are a summary of music that we’ve heard and liked in the past few months. We are a bit surprised in this list how many are new releases of 2024. Okay, the starting song “Show Biz Kids” is not new, but we included it because the second song (before lots of edits to the playlist) was Frank Ocean’s “Super Rich Kids” and “Show Biz Kids” came immediately to mind. We changed the second song out for X-Press2 “Lazy” for better flow.

Special call out to Aaron Embry’s “Raven’s Song”. It’s beautiful. And, Jessica Pratt’s latest album is one in constant rotation at Travelmarx headquarters.

As to the title of the playlist: these were songs we were listening to as we got ready to sell our house. You can hear this playlist here on Spotify.


Rickie Lee Jones - “Show Biz Kids” (2000)
X-Press 2 – “Lazy (feat. David Byrne)”
Thundercat - “Funny Thing” (2020)
Orville Peck / Beck - “Death Valley High” (2024)
Emilíana Torrini - “Let’s Keep Dancing” (2024)
Mirama - “Did You Mean It” (2024)

Jay-Jay Johanson - “Lujon” (2024)
Jessica Pratt - “Better Hate” (2024)
Hermanos Gutiérrez - “Cumbia Lunar” (2024)
King Hannah - “Big Swimmer” (2024)
Meltt - “S.O.S.” (2019)
Tindersticks - “New World – Edit"

Claudio Constantini - "Étude 4 (Estudios Efímeros)" (2024)
Andrew Bird - “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” (2024)
Chartreuse - “Morning Ritual” (2023)
Donna Blue - “In Blue” (2024)
Loma - “Affinity” (2024)
Ka Rica-Tar - “"Kingdom of D'mt" (2015)

Aaron Embry - “Raven’s Song” (2012)
Sainkho Namtchylak - "Let the Sunshine" (2000)
Febueder - “Dire Science” (2023)
Black Pumas - “Colors” (2019)
Sonic Boom, Panda Bear, Mariachi 2000 de Cutberto Pérez - "Peligro" (2024)
Helado Negro - “Out There” (2024)

Teignmouth - “Questo Mostrarsi” (1991)
Rosinha de Valençia - “Summertime” (2000)
John Grant - "All That School For Nothing" (2024)
Mondo Cozmo - “Shine” (2017)
Magdalena Bay - “Death & Romance” (2024)
Allah-Las - “Keeping Dry” (2019)

Bonny Light Horseman - “I Know You Know” (2024)
Fink - “Looking Too Closely” (2024)
Floating Action - “Feel My Love” (2023)
Cat Clyde - “Everywhere I Go” (2023)
Ofege - “It’s Not Easy” (1973)

Erlend Øye, La Comitiva - “You and Only You” (2024)

Three Day Hike - Valmalenco (Italy) and Forno Glacier (Switzerland)

Overview | Itinerary | FAQ | Flora | Photos

 

 

Top left: Overview of the three day hike in Valmalenco and Forno Glacier.
Top right: Day 2 first glimpse of the glacier.
Bottom left: Day 2 heading south to Capanna del Forno in Switzerland.
Bottom right: Day 1 heading to Rifugio Longoni near Alpe Sasso Nero in Valmalenco.

Overview

Length: 45.2 km
Duration: 24.5 hours (including lunch stops typically 30 minutes)
Elevation: 2,947 m gain (high point 2,967 m at Passo Vazzeda)
Location: Valmalenco (Italy), Forno Glacier (Switzerland)


This hike had a lot of similarities with our 2018 Seven Days on the Sentiero delle Orobie – A Journey Through the Bergamo Alps where we hiked hut to hut as well. That trip was 6 nights and this trip 3 nights. In some respects, this shorter trip was harder due to lengths we covered in a day and altitude gains.

A big thanks goes to a friend Tommy who studied and planned the trip. And, then guided and cheered us along.


  

Different angles on the route taken.

Itinerary – Day-by-Day Breakdown

These stats were recorded by Outdoor Active.


Day 1

Length: 14.4 km
Duration: 7.5 hours (with 30 min lunch stop between Rifugio Palù and Rifugio Longoni)
Elevation: 1204 m gain (high point 2473 m)


Here’s what we did:

• We parked the car on the side of the road about 1 km north of the village of San Giuseppe (Chiesa in Valmalenco) at around 1450 m.
• We walked south back to San Giuseppe and up to the parking for the ski run at Prati Predana (~ 1530 m).
• From the parking lot, we followed the signs to Rifugio Lago Palù.
• From Palù, we followed the 4th part “tappa” of the Alta Via Della Valmalenco.
• We stayed the night at Rifugio Longoni.

Notes:

• We had intended to take a detour before reaching Longoni to go see the ex Rifugio Entova-Scerscen and get a view of Bernina and the glaciers, but we were too tired.
• We stopped at Rifugio Palù mid-morning and just got a drink. We had lunch on the trail halfway between Palù and Longoni.
• At one point (near Alpe Sasso Nero) in the trail between Palù and Longoni the trail was greater than 55% inclination.
• It was a push the last 500 m or so to get up to Longoni.

Tracks and profile for day 1.

Day 2

Length: 19.6 km
Duration: 9 hours (with 30 min lunch stop at Passo del Muretto)
Elevation: 1193 m gain (high point 2801 m)


Here’s what we did:

• From Rifugio Longoni, we started walking west to Pian di Fora with its interesting waterfalls.
• We passed through a small farm area here, in the Alpe Fora (2053 m) area.
• We continued on to a larger group of structures here (above Alpe dell’Oro) - trail marked 328/304.
• Then, we got on the dirt “road” to Passo del Muretto that runs northwest. (It was an old commercial route.)
• We crossed the pass at 2562 m, which is the border between Italy and Switzerland.
• After the pass and descending northwest into Switzerland, we lost the main trail for a bit but picked it up again and headed for Capanna del Forno.

Notes:

• At the pass there is a small seating area (sort of out of the wind) with some informational signs about the area. That’s where we had lunch.
• The trail we took after Passo del Muretto to Capanna del Forno runs to the east and a couple of hundred meters above the Bernina Sud trail, which runs lower and provides access to the hut from Maloja in Switzerland.
• We ran out of water in our bladders but luckily there were plenty of good water sources along the way.

Tracks and profile for day 2.

Day 3

Length: 11.2 km
Duration: 8 hours (with a 60 min lunch stop at Rifugio Del Grande Camerini)
Elevation: 550 m gain (high point 2960 m at Passo Vazzeda)

Here’s what we did:

• Heading south from the Capanna del Forno, we followed the blue and white poles. (We didn’t take the Passo del Forno trail which goes east from the hut.)
• After dropping quickly from the hut, you start climbing and immediately encounter your first section of chains. There is something like 400 m of chains on this route and we found at least a dozen or more sets. We lost count. In this section, you are skirting the western flank of Monte Rosso.
• After climbing with the chains and then leaving them behind, you reach a small balcony of sorts and then drop again and head east toward Passo Vazzeda.
• We crossed over rock and snowfields until we were just north of Passo Vazzeda and then there was a diagonal piece to get to the pass at 2967 m.
• At the pass, we were again on the border between Italy and Switzerland.
• Descending from the pass into Italy, there are just a few more chain sections and then it was rock and snow fields as we followed the red and white poles for Rifugio Del Grande Camerini – all downhill.
• A much earned long lunch at the friendly rifugio.
• Then we briefly picked un the 3rd part “tappa” of the Alta Via Della Valmalenco (with a few more chain areas), but instead of heading south we cut east toward Alpe Sissone and took a steeper more direct trail back to Chiareggio (1612 m) and eventually intersecting with the Alta Via again.
• At Chiareggio, one of us hitched a ride down the road (5 km or more) to where we left the car and came back for the rest of us.

Notes:

• There are a few ways to get from Rifugio Del Grande Camerini back down to Chiareggio. We chose the direct/steep route via Alpe Sissone because we were tired and felt like following the Alta Via would be more tiring albeit more scenic.
• Free and delicious water at Rifugio Del Grande Camerini.

Tracks and profile for day 3.

FAQ

Where exactly is this hike?

This is a hike takes place in and around the Valmalenco, a side valley of the Valtellina valley in the Province of Sondrio in the Italian region Lombardy.

The area includes the border between Italy and Switzerland (canton Grisons, Municipality of Bregaglia). The border runs through peaks and passes. The hike starts in Italy, passes into Switzerland, and then returns to Italy.

This area is in the Western Rhaetian Alps and in the International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps (SOIUSA) it’s the Central Eastern Alps. What!? That’s confusing. Let's try to explain.

• The term Rhaetian has historical and geographical significance referring to the Roman province of Raetia, which was names after the Raeti people. The Raeti people were related to the Etruscans. The Rhaetian Alps are named after this historical region and people. Before the Roman conquest, they inhabited present-day Tyrol in Austria, eastern Switzerland and the Alpine regions of northeastern Italy. Valmalenco is the western part of that region.
• SOIUSA (an acronym for Suddivisione Orografica Internazionale Unificata del Sistema Alpino - English: International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps-ISMSA) is a proposal for a new classification system of the Alps from the geographic and toponomastic point of view. From the point of view of this classification sytem, Valmalenco is in the center.

What trails did we follow?

We did a hike of our own making. That’s the beauty of this area: you can customize your walks. Pick a rifugio/mountain hut and figure out what trails go there. 

Our hike takes in a little of the Alta Via Della Valmalenco and a little of the Sentiero Bernina Sud.

A really good overview of the two principal routes connecting Capanna del Forno and Rifugio Del Grande Camerini is here on the CAI Sovico site: L'anello dei due rifugi. The PDF is in Italian but can easily be translated. In the PDF, the part from Capanna del Forno (2,574 m) to Rifugio Del Grande Camerini (2,768m) passing through Passo Vazzeda (2,967 m) is what we did and is described above. (The other way to arrive, which is more popular is Passo del Forno.)  

These are high-altitude routes for experienced hikers, requiring good weather and proper equipment. 

What was a typical day like?

We typically ate breakfast at 7:00 am and were out of the hut by 8:00 am and on our way. (The huts will ask you the night before when you want breakfast.)

We would arrive at our next destination between 4 – 5 pm. Dinner at 7:00 or 7:30 pm.

What was lodging like?

In Longoni we had a room for 6 people for just the four in our group. That was nice. There were bigger rooms with more people and in one case triple bunks!

Capanna del Forno had newer accommodations and more people per room – at least what we experienced. We were in a room of 12 with us 4 in our group and 3 others.

Notes:

• Both places (as most rifugi/huts do) had slippers you could wear after shedding your boots for the day.
• There were pay-for showers in both Longoni and Capanna del Forno and the bathrooms were good.
• We would recommend calling ahead to book your space.

   

Left: View from Rifugio Longoni.
Center left: Example room for 6 in Rifugio Longoni.
Center right: Tea at Capanna del Forno.
Right: Entry to Capanna del Forno.

 

What were the rifguio/hut prices like?

We used our CAI membership cards to get a small discount. With discount, we paid:

• ½ board ~220 CHF at Capanna del Forno for 2 people. (At the time 1 CHF = 1.06 Euros.)
• ½ board ~120 Euros at Rifugio Longoni for 2 people

Check the web sites for up-to-date price information. Yes, Switzerland is that more expensive.

How was the food?


The food was good. We had a vegetarian in our group who was happy with the choices. For dinner we had pasta, some risotto, soup, polenta, mushrooms, sausage, and brasato (braised meat). For breakfast we had coffee, tea, milk, juice, dry toast, yogurt, and cakes.

That said, bring food you can't live be that snacks or even a piece or two of fruit. 

  

Rifugio Longoni dining room, dinner entry, and breakfast sweets.

  

Capanna del Forno dinner soup, carrot salad, risotto with and without meat.

  

Rifugio del Grande Camerini polent and brasato, tagliatelle, crostata.


What did we do for water?

Longoni and Capanna del Forno said you couldn’t drink the water, and we didn’t, so we bought water in these two places. A large bottle 1.5 liters at Capanna del Forno was 9 CHF. Highway robbery but hey you are in the mountains. (Capanna del Forno offers you 1.5 liters of free tea to fill up on. It wasn’t bad, but I’d rather have water.)

Our friends carried several metal water bottles and filled them up from streams along the way. At first, we were a bit snobby and avoided drinking from streams. But on day 2 we ran out of water in our 3 liter bladders and we too were drinking out of streams.

The water at Rifugio Del Grande Camerini is technically not potable but they have extensive filtering in place and we drank it (and it was free and good).


What were the parts of the trails with chains like?

Only on day three did we encounter chains. We were a bit spooked on the first chains we encountered. After encountering them more and more, we got used to them. That said, we found it easier to go up with chains rather than go down chains. And, the route we took from Capanna del Forno to Rifugio Del Grande Camerini (through Passo Vazzeda) was such that we were mostly climbing up with chain assists and not going down.

When coming upon a chain part, the walking poles went away and gloves on. Ascend slowly and use your legs as much as possible. We weren't attached in any way.

What did we carry?

We carried about 8-11 kg in our packs. At the start of any given day 2-3 kg of that weight was water in our water bladders.

In our packs:

• walking sticks
• water bladder (Platypus)
• small first aid kit
• sleeping back liner *sacco a pelo* (blankets and pillows provided by rifugio/hut)
• travel towel
• rain/wind jacket plus padded vest (in case it got cold)
• hat (Tilley)
• light gloves (came in handy when using chains)
• sunscreen!!
• handkerchief to wipe face
• plastic sandals (didn’t need them as the huts had them)
• light shorts and shirt to sleep in and change into after hiking clothes
• bare minimum toiletries
• a brick to charge phones and associated plugs and cables

Many hikers might just bring one pair of socks. We brought socks for each day and an extra hiking shirt and hiking pants. We used the socks but not the extra hiking shirt or hiking pants. We ended up washing our hiking things and setting them to dry overnight to reuse.

What was the weather like?

We did this at the end of August, and it was warm. 95% of the time we were in shorts and a hiking shirt and that’s it. Of course, we had a pullover for the evenings in the hut and we always had an outer jacket and warm vests always ready just in case.

Flora

Some points about the flora:

• This is subjective, be we felt like the flora was the most interesting on the Swiss side of Passo del Muretto and Passo Vazzeda.
• Our format below is [Family] Genus species
• Some pictures are blurry but still included for reference.
• We 100% sure with family identifications, 95% sure with genus, and 90% sure with species.

[Amaryllidaceae] Allium carinatum

[Apiaceae] Astrantia minor



[Apiaceae] Bupleurum stellatum


[Apiaceae] seed head

   


[Asteraceae] Achillea millefolium


[Asteraceae] Achillea nana
 

[Asteraceae] Adenostyles


[Asteraceae] Arnica montana


[Asteraceae] Carlina acaulis
  

[Asteraceae] Centaurea
 

[Asteraceae] Cirsium eriophorum

  

 

[Asteraceae] Cirsium spinosissimum


[Asteraceae] Doronicum grandiflorum
  

[Asteraceae] Hieracium
 

[Asteraceae] Leucanthemopsis alpina


[Asteraceae] seed head



[Asteraceae] Senecio abrotanifolius
 

[Boraginaceae] Myosotis
 

[Campanulaceae] Campanula


[Campanulaceae] Phyteuma

 


[Caprifoliaceae] Knautia


[Caryophyllaceae] Cerastium alpinum
  


[Caryophyllaceae] Silene acaulis
  

[Crassulaceae] Sempervivum arachnoideum - looks like spider web inside of plant
 

[Crassulaceae] Sempervivum tectorum
 

[Ericaceae] Calluna vulgaris


[Gentianaceae] Gentiana asclepiadea



[Gentianaceae] Gentianella engadinensis
 

[Geraniaceae] Geranium sylvaticum


[Onagraceae] Chamaenerion angustifolium


[Onagraceae] Chamaenerion dodonaei

 


[Papaveraceae] Papaver alpinum


[Plantaginaceae] Linaria alpina

  

   


[Plantaginaceae] Veronica alpina


[Polygonaceae] Bistorta vivipara



[Polygonaceae] Oxyria digyna


[Ranunculaceae] Aconitum napellus


[Ranunculaceae] Ranunculus glacialis

 


[Rosaceae] Alchemilla


[Rosaceae] Geum reptans

   

  


[Saxifragaceae] Saxifraga aizoides
 

[Saxifragaceae] Saxifraga bryoides

Photos

 

Day 1 - Trail from Lago Palù to Rifugio Longoni

 
Left: Day 1 - Almost to Rifugio Longoni (visible in the distance)
Right: Day 1 - Late afternoon view from Rifugio Longoni toward Chiareggio

 

Left: Day 2 - Alpe Fora (near Rifugio Longoni)
Right: Day 2 - The trek up to Passo del Muretto

 

Left: Day 2 - Looking south back over where we just came from as we climb to Passo del Muretto
Right: Day 2 - On the Swiss side of Passo del Muretto making our way to Capanna del Forno

 

Left: Day 2 - On the trail from Passo del Muretto to Capanna del Forno
Right: Day 2 - A small lake above Capanna del Forno

 

Left: Day 2 - An Ibex (Stambecco) crosses the trail near Capanna del Forno
Right: Day 2 - Approach Capanna del Forno above the Forno Glacier

  

Day 3 - Start of the hike going to Passo Vazzeda; Capanna del Forno visible on left

Day 3 - On the Trail to Passo Vazzeda - our first chains

Day 3 - Climbing up a chained area on our way from Capanna del Forno to Rifugio Del Grande Camerini

  

Day 3 - View of the snow fields and glaciers of Cima di Rosso

Day 3 - Passo Vazzeda in sight

Day 3 - View of Cima di Rosa and Forno Glacier

 

Day 3 - At Passo Vazzeda straddling Italy (left) and Switzerland (right)

Day 3 - View from Passo Vazzeda into Italy and Valmalenco

 

Day 3 - Descending from Passo Vazzeda into Italy over snow
Day 3 - Rifugio del Grande Camerini in sight

  

Day 3 - Man and Mountain - Staring at Mount Disgrazia

Day 3 - Below Rifugio del Grande Camerini - some more chains

Day 3 - Coming down a chained areas below Rifugio Del Grande Camerini

Day 3 - Descending toward Chiareggio