A Short Post About a Long Hike - Vò Valley to Rifugio Tagliaferri

Overview ~ The Route ~ Photos ~ Flora

  

Left: Malga Venano di sopra (1870 m). Center: Baita Malga Venano di sopra. Right: A mossy beginning to trail 413.

Sometimes you have to wait to get or do something, and it’s worth it and you are probably better for it. Case in point: a hike to Rifugio Tagliaferri via the Valley Vò. We were supposed to go on Saturday with friends and for various reasons it didn’t happen and we were bummed. Then, a few days later on Wednesday, we decided to give it a go, just the two of us, and it was magical and worth the wait (and less crowded).

Overview

Length: 22.6 km
Elevation Gain: 1270 m
Duration: 8.25 hours (about 6 hours moving)
Highest Point: 2331 m
Starting Point: 1067 m
Destination: Rifugio Tagliaferri

The Route

The CAI Sentiero 413: Schilpario - Rifugio Tagliaferri is what we followed except for a small deviation on the last part going, which was more a “direct” route and not really worth the hassle and the sweat. Our advice, follow Sentiero 413 up and back. Easy-peasy.

The first 30 minutes of the hike are in a forest of spruce, mountain pine, alder, and hazelnut trees. The Vò torrente is always nearby and visible at times through the trees. Then the forest opens up to pastures. As you climb the mule track you come across: the Baita del Venano di sotto (1542 m), the Baita del Venano di mezzo (1679 m) and the Baita di Venano di sopra (1859 m). At the uppermost baita we saw a herd of about 1000 Pecora Gigante Bergamasca (Bergamasque Giant sheep), a massive Italian breed native to the mountainous valleys of Bergamo. The shepherd said he had been doing his job for 50 years and was ready for retirement. What does retirement look like for a shepherd?

We visited Rifugio Nani Tagliaferri back in 2019 approaching the rifugio from the adjacent valley with the Gleno Dam. See the post A Hike to Rifugio Tagliaferri via Val di Gleno. It was fun to come back and visit. This rifugio is the highest in the Bergamasque Alps at 2328 m. It’s also interesting for the story of why it was built.

The namesake of the rifugio, Nani Tagliaferri, was a mountaineer from Bergamo whose life and spirit embodied the rugged devotion to the Orobie Alps. His untimely death in in 1981 in the Peruvian Andes inspired his brother Francesco and a group of close friends resolved to honor his memory in a way that reflected his spirit—by building a refuge at altitude, where others could experience the same communion with the landscape that had shaped him.

The rifugio’s construction in the 1980s followed the logic of the military mule tracks of the surrounding valleys—meticulously graded, drained, and reinforced—linking the alpine valleys of Scalve and Valtellina. Set amid the Orobie Alps, the refuge overlooks a panorama that sweeps from the Bernina and Disgrazia groups to the peaks of Camino, Bagozza, and Concarena.

One botanical note: we saw so many raspberries on this hike. We sampled all along the trail, and they were good.

Photos

  

Left: Heading back down the mountain to to Malga Venano di sopra on trail 413.

Center: Last bit of the direct trail to reach Rifugio Tagliaferri.
Right: Sheep in Malga Venano di sopra.

  
Left: Leaving the rifugio on trail 413.

Center: Looking down on Malga Venano di sopra.

Right: View from the trail looking south toward Pizzo Camino.

  

Left: Trail 413 starts out gentle in the forest.

Center: Trail 413 goes by two small lakes in the upper reaches.

Right: View of Pizzo Tornello (2687 m).

  

Left: Venano di sopra conca.

Center: Trail - View from trail up to rifugio (hidden).

Right: Trail - Malga Venano di sopra – shepherd's hut.

   
Left: Rifugio Tagliaferri - special dish of the rifugio.

Center left: Rifugio Tagliaferri – spezzatino.

Center right: Rifugio Tagliaferri – dishes for a group of hikers

Right: Rifugio Tagliaferri - in the kitchen.


  

Left: Sign about charcoal production.

Center: Trail Sign at Malga Venano di sopra (1870 m).

Right: Just below the rifugio, out of sight.

Flora

[Apiaceae] Bupleurum sp.

[Asteraceae] Leontopodium nivale - edelweiss
 

[Asteraceae] Carlina acaulis

 

[Asteraceae] flower


[Campanulaceae] Campanula sp.

 

[Caryophyllaceae] Lychnis flos-cuculi

[Crassulaceae] Rhodiola rosea
  

[Crassulaceae] Sempervivum montanum
 

[Papaveraceae] Pseudofumaria lutea


[Rosaceae] Potentilla sp.


[Rosaceae] Rubus idaeus


[Saxifragaceae] Saxifraga aizoides