Hike from Lovere to Rifugio Magnolini

Left: A hiking route from Lovere to Rifugio Magnolini. Right: View of Lago d'Iseo from the trail.


Hike Notes

Length: 21.1 km (13.1 miles)
Duration: 3:20 up, 2:15 down
Elevation: 1.743 m (5,719 feet) total elevation gain, max elevation 1.608 m (5,276 feet) @ rifugio L. Magnolini, starting elevation at Lovere 208 m (682 feet)
Location: Italy, Lombardia, Bergamo, Monte Bronzone Lago d’Iseo

Overview

Another town-to-country-and-back walk, this time from Lovere, at the top of Lago d’Iseo, up to Rifugio L. Magnolini, and back down to Lovere. After last Sunday’s walk from Albino to Bergamo where we took a sack lunch, we were looking forward to a nice civilized rifugio lunch, and this hike fit the bill. The bus from Bergamo to Lovere took about 1 hour and roundtrip cost about 10 € a person. In Lovere, we followed sentiero 551 up to Locanda ai Ciar and then switched to sentiero 558 up to the rifugio. We followed 551 down from the rifugio back to Lovere. The first part of sentiero 551 goes from raw trail to cobblestone, and roughly paved roads. That said, we recorded a 14.8% average slope in the climb up and in some places it was up to 25%.

At Rifugio Magnolini, we ate a nice brasata e polenta and finished it with a torta al cioccolato.

Left: Start of the hike, Lovere on Lago d'Iseo. Right: Signage for trail 551 on a guardrail with Lago d'Iseo below.


Left: Trail 551 on the way to Rifugio Magnolini. Right: The approach to Rifugio Magnolini.


Some plants along the way to Rifugio Magnolini. Left: Astrantia major. Right: Eupatorium cannabinum.


Left: Salvia glutinosa. Right: Stachys.


Rifugio Magnolini lunch. Left: Brasata and polenta. Right: Chocolate cake.


Protected alpine plants sign at Rifugio Magnolini.

Christo's Floating Piers - Lago d'Iseo

Christo’s Floating Piers is/was a temporary, site-specific, interactive art installation on Lago di’Iseo. The piers are a saffron-colored walkway that runs for some 3 kilometers. The floating walkway allows visitors to experience walking on water, and visitors are encouraged to take their shoes off.  For the sixteen days of the installation, Monte Isola is/will be connected with the smaller island of San Paolo and the mainland at Sulzano.

Lago d’Iseo is about a 40-minute drive from Bergamo. We drove to Iseo (town), parked, took a boat (9:30 am) to Monte Isola where we spend the day exploring the Floating Piers and Monte Isola. We had booked the parking and boat tickets weeks in advance on the advice of a friend, so it was fairly smooth sailing for us getting in and out.

We were glad we went as it was spectacular to see and experience. The piers moved a little, but not that much. They were quite wide at 16 meters (52 feet) and felt safe.  As advised, we took our shoes off to experience walking on water. We walked on water and found Christo.

Just a few weeks earlier we were hiking (see Lago Iseo, Predore to Tavernola Bergamasca Hike) on Lago Iseo with views down onto the installation under construction. At that time, it hadn’t taken on its saffron color. Monte Isola warrants another visit in the future when it’s back to its sleepy self and minus the floating saffron ribbons and millions of visitors.

Lago Iseo, Predore to Tavernola Bergamasca Hike

Left: Summary of the hike from Predore to Tavernola Bergamasca created with Google Earth. Right: View from Punta Alta of Christo’s Floating Piers under construction.

Hike Notes

Length: ~ 8km
Duration: 9:40 to 12:40, 3 hours
Elevation: high point 953 m (3,126 ft), Punta Alta, total elevation gain 783 m (2,570 ft)
Location: Lago Iseo, Predore to Tavernola Bergamasca

Overview

To get to Predore we took a bus from Bergamo station. Our advice is to go to http://www.bergamotrasporti.it/ and put your departure and arrival points and times and get schedules for planning. But, always go a little early and buy tickets at the station and ask where to catch the bus. There are many places to buy tickets, but we typically use this ticket office near the station.

In Predore, we grabbed a coffee and a brioche to wake us up and then started hiking around 9:40 am. We arrived at Tavernola around 12:40. After a quick freshen-up at the local public water fountain, we headed to Trattoria Il Porticciolo for lunch. Just as the clouds started to move in threatening rain, we took the 15:05 bus back to Bergamo.

The trail options you have for this route can be found on the Club Alpino Italiano (CAI) Bergamo site. They have a geoportale site (select “Mappe”) that makes planning very easy. An example map is shown below.

The trail starts in Predore behind the municipio and just climbs and climbs and climbs. Today as we are walking it’s decorated in white and blue ribbons everywhere. Possibly decorations for recent confirmations in the church?

Soon enough we pass out of the ribbons and climb the steps up to the Santuario Madonna della Neve in San Gregorio - Parrocchia di Predore. After a bit more of road (more like a very steep lane), we come to some trail markings and take trail 734 to Punta Alta. At Punta Alta, we meant to go east to catch trail 731 and instead ended up going north to trail 730 into Tavernola. All roads lead to Tavernola eventually.

At Punta Alta, there is good view of Christo's Floating Piers, which is scheduled to open on the 18^th of this month. At this time, it’s still white and don’t have its final coating of yellow.

Left: A brioche and coffee to start the hike. Right: At the top of Predore you’ll see this sign where you go right.


Left: Example of the type of maps you can get and print out from the CAI Bergamo site. Right: Looking back down the trail at Predore and Lago Iseo.

Left: View of Christo’s Floating Piers from Punta Alta looking east toward Monte Isola. Right: Another view of the Floating Piers from a roccolo (always fund to find).


Left: One more view of the Floating Piers (because it’s just so cool). Right: Just above Tavernola Bergamasca – the trail becomes a small country lane.

Left: Example of a trail marker indicating a turn right. Right: View north east toward Tavernola Bergamasca along Lago Iseo.


View of upper part of Tavernola Bergamasca.