Hiking Below Pizzo della Presolana

Left: Path from Passo della Presolana to bivacco città di Clusone. Right: View from sentiero 315 into valley.


Hike Notes

Length: 8.4 km round trip
Duration: 3 hours up to bivouac, shorter coming back
Elevation: ~ 790 m ascent/descent, start at Passo della Presolana @ 1297 m, high point bivouac @ 2085 m
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Bergamo Province, Alta Val Seriana

Overview

A last minute invite to take a Sunday walk seemed like a good way to spend time with the friends who invited us, see a little more of the area around Bergamo and get in a little walking before we hit the Gran Sasso National Park. We following sentiero 315, making it to the bivouac (bivacco città di Clusone @2085 m), which proved to be our turn around point today. The Presolana group is sometimes called the Bergamasco Dolomites.

We came back down from the bivouac to Rifugio Cassinelli (1522 m) for lunch. Casoncelli of course were on the menu as well as polenta, two staples of the Bergamasco cuisine.

Botanical References

• FAB - Gruppo Flora Alpina Bergamasca - there is a beautiful guide to beautiful flowers around Albino, which is close to Bergamo)
• Checklist flora per region - Lombardia - useful for navigating by family and genera.
• www.fioribrembani.it - useful for searching for color and petals
• Flora Alpi Orobie
• Fiori di montagna Alpi Orobie
• I fiori della Val di Scalve
• Description of the plants and trees of Monte Bastia e del Roccolo. No pictures, but a good list.

For more references, see Resources for Identifying Plants around Bergamo.

Left: [Fabaceae] Anthyllis vulneraria; Right: [Ranunculaceae] Trollius eruopaeus


From left to right: [Orchidaceae] Cephalanthera longifolia, [Orchidaceae] Neottia nidus-avis, [Orobanchaceae] Pedicularis verticillata, [Primulaceae] Primula glaucescens, [Gentinaceae] Gentiana


Left: [Plantaginaceae] Globularia; Right: [Violaceae] Viola


[Polygalaceae] Polygala chamaebuxus


Left: CAI Bergamo Map for Sentiero 315; Right: Trailhead sign.


Left: Coming down sentiero 315; Right: View above bivouac to Presolana.


Left: Trail sign pointing to Passo della Presolana; Right: View from Rifugio Cassinelli, looking south.


Casoncelli at Rifugio Cassinelli

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.

Nembro to Bergamo Hike (via Parco dei Colli di Bergamo)

Left: Hike overview; Nembro is on the left in the image; Right: View over Burro, a frazione (community) of Alzano Lombardo.

Hike Notes

Length: ~ 19.5 km (12 miles)
Duration: ~ 5.5 hours walking
Elevation: 1639 m gain (5,277 ft), max elevation 764 m (2,506 ft)
Location: Parco di Colli di Bergamo, Bergamo, Province of Bergamo, Italy

Overview

Another hike to add to our list of hikes that start and finish in Bergamo. In the past, we had Bergamo to Canto Alto Hike, Colli di Bergamo Hike, and Almenno San Salvatore to Monte Linzone Hike.
We began and finished this hike at Piazzetta del Delfino, on via Pignolo in Bergamo. Here are the specifics:

• We walked down to the Bergamo Borgo Palazzo to the Tramvie Elettriche Bergamasche (TEB) stop and took the tram to Nembro.
• From Nembro we followed trail 535 to Lonno.
• From Lonno we took trail 533 to Castello and walked into Monte di Nese.
• From Monte di Nese we took trail 540 to Olera.
• From Olera we took trail 532 to Ca' del Latte.
• From Ca' del Latte we took trail 533 to Quintino alto.
• From Quinto alto we took city streets back home.

We missed the turn off in Lonno for trail 532 and ended up on 533 which turned out to be more interesting if not a bit longer. We would join up later with trail 532 in Olera. The only thing missing from this hike was a nice lunch spot because we missed the frazione of Burro (Alzano Lombardo). We did stop of a coffee and a chat in the charming little town of Olera.

The first half of the hike is outside the Parco di Colli di Bergamo. Olera sits just on the border of the park, so after passing through Olera on trail 532 we were in the park.

Left: Heading toward Monte di Nese on trail 533. Right: View over Olera.


Left: The last bit of trail 533 before dropping onto pavement in Bergamo (Quintino Alto). Right: Beetles on a flower.


Il percorso della Rana. One of three loops your can follow in the hills around Alzano Lombardo. The rana (or frog) is a loop that is about the fauna. More info here.


A sampling of the trail signs along the way. Best thing to do before doing a hike around Bergamo is consult the CAI Bergamo site and use their interactive map.

Varenna to Bellano Hike on the Viandante Trail

Left: Hike overview from Varenna to Bellano. Right: Example of one part of the trail.

Hike Notes

Length: ~ 6.8 km (4.25 miles)
Duration: ~ 2.5 hours
Elevation: total elevation gain 562 m (1,845 feet)
Location: Lago di Como

Overview

We walked the Viandante on Day 2 of a two day stay in the Varenna/Bellagio area. It was an easy train ride from (1 change in Lecco) from Bergamo. Day 1 we arrived in Varenna by train, took a boat (see http://www.navlaghi.it/ for times) to Bellagio, and spend the day exploring. We used Walking the Italian Lakes Walk 24: Around Bellagio as a guide. We stayed in Varenna that night and the next day we walked the Viandante from Varenna to Bellano.

Viandante means “wayfarer” and this route was used by those needing to travel north-south. Viandante is on the east side of Lake Como and is less travelled than La Greenway on the west side. From the same guide mentioned above, we followed Walk 22: Sentiero del Viandante 1: Varenna to Bellano. The walk is also described in detail (in Italian) in Il sentiero del viandante. When walking this trail, you will quickly learn to look for orange signs, orange markings on the ground like a dot or a three letter acronym (not sure if it was TSV but it was in orange) – all indications you are going in the right direction.

We started out early from Varenna and walked up to Castello Vezio reaching it at 9:30am. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open yet. We decided not to wait around for the 10:00 opening time and headed on to Bellano. We made it to Bellano around noon. In Bellano, we stopped at the L'Orrido di Bellano (worth it for the small entry fee).

Down on the main square, we ate at Trattoria del Ponte and then stopped at Pasticceria Maglia Simone for something sweet on the train ride back to Bergamo. All in all, a simple little hike with pleasing scenery.

Left: Typical alley of Varenna leading to the water. Right: Example of orange Sentiero del Viandante signs.


Left: Dead scorpion we found on the welcome mat of the Chiesa di S. Antonio Abate di Vezio. These really can’t hurt you; a sting like a wasp we read….still wouldn’t want to meet up with it. Right: View south toward ferry landing in Varenna.


L’Orrido di Bellano – basically a gorge with a waterfall that is used to generate power today but has a long history of use in the silk and cotton factories in Bellano.

Left: Looking south from the trail toward Gittana. Right: View over Lake Como from Bellano, looking south.


Left: View from Viandante toward Bellano. Right: View northwest toward Varenna from must south of Varenna.

Bergamo – Street Sign Language Lesson VI

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School is over for now. We survived our two classes at the University of Bergamo CIS – Italian for Foreigners, and did okay. We took Livello B2 Corso Generale and Corso di Scrittura (A challenging writing course that was worth it). We had one very good professoressa for both classes. However, now we must go back to the streets for our lessons. In this installment of street sign language lessons, we have lots of dog trouble, local rabbit, a well-hung youth, a stolen ashtray, and the start and stop of singing work.


Non chiediamo così tanto!!! Ma almeno portate i vostri cani a fare i loro bisogni al parco e non sulle nostre porte, muri e vetrine!! Grazie – We don’t ask so much. But at least you can take your dogs to do their business in the park and not on our doors, walls, and windows. Thanks
As I think I remarked in the past, there are a lot of dogs in Bergamo. There are no wild or roaming dogs that I’ve seen. Therefore, this means that the shit you commonly see on the sidewalk is due to an owner ignoring it or not aware that their dog left something. The owner of this storefront on via Sant’Alessandro has had enough of it and put up this sign.


Il padrone di questo cane è porco. – The owner of this dog is a pig.
We saw this composition on the other side of town on via San Tomaso. Another person who’s had it with dog droppings. I can’t get the image out of my mind of someone slipping this note under the turd pile. I like this note because of the simplicity of the sentence, all words easily understood.


Attenzione: cani addestrati per la difesa del territorio. NON AVVICINARSI – Attention: dogs trained for defending the property. Do not come close.
We were in Bellagio (Lago di Como) taking a stroll and saw this sign. I like the adjective and past participle addestrato from the verb addestrare meaning to train. People can be addestrato too, perhaps even to pick up after their dogs?


Se non lo fate voi, almeno insegnatelo al vostro fedele amico – If you don’t do it, at least train your loyal friend to do it
Another sign from our day in Bellagio. The sign is titled Pubblicità progresso, or social issues advertising. I suspect that it’s a take on the advertising by the non-profit organization Pubblicità Progresso, founded in 1971. It shows a dog picking up after itself. It uses the imperative from of the verb insegnare (to teach) with a direct object lo or it, referring to the business of picking up.


inizio / fine cantiere – the start / end of work
Even though this sign clearly shows a man shoveling , which suggests work, I always think of the verb cantare (to sing), as in the start (inizio) and end (fine) of singing. At least it’s not a sign about dogs. This photo was taken at the top of via Pignolo, Bergamo.


conigli nostrani – local rabbit
Nostro is a possessive “our” from which nostrani derives. Coniglio (singular) or rabbit is a common item in macelleria or butcher shops in Bergamo. We took this photo in a butcher shop on via Masone (Macelleria Coffetti) where we stop occasionally to buy meat. The butcher explained nostrani to me once. Just this morning I asked him about grammar again: do we say “siamo apposto” or “siamo apposti” when you say “enough, we are good” after a shop owner asks if you want something else. It’s “apposto”, the past participle of apporre. I like this butcher, maybe the University should hire him.


ragazzo superdotato – well-hung guy
We pass by this wall scrawling on our way to the Pam store on via Carmozzi and via Pignolo. (At the Pam grocery store you can shop to upbeat music, sort of like shopping at a well lit nightclub). It took me a while for these two words on the wall to sink in. The a-ha moment was when we were driving in Piemonte last winter and saw a sign that read obbligo dotazione invernale – winter equipment required. Dotazione -> equipment. Dotato -> equipped. Suddenly my mind flashed to the words on this wall and it all became clear. “x Donne!” means "per donne" or for women. (I crossed the number out to protect the superdotato.)


Tu che ci hai rubato il posacenere…la telecamera intera punta la porta, il tuo bel faccione si vede benissimo. Rendilo al più presto. - You who stole our ashtray…the internal camera is aimed at the door, your fat face can be seen very well. Return it right away.
If it’s not dogs, it’s ashtrays. (Reminds me of the Dead Can Dance song ‘Fortune Presents Gifts Not According to the Book’: “When you expect whistles it’s flutes, When you expect flutes it's whistles”.) The business (I think it is a design studio) that put up this sign on via Pignolo lost its ashtray and they were pissed. (Good for them for having an ashtray and not just tossing the butts into the street.) Faccia + one combines to become faccione big, fat face. Rubare is the verb to steal. And, the note uses the impersonal si vede, one sees or we see or maybe best in this case: you are seen. During a conversation when it becomes too confusing to conjugate a verb for “we” or “they” or "you" or you are not sure who is doing the acting, it’s often easier to use the si impersonale. See more here.

How to Quit Your Job and Inspire Yourself and the People Around You

Okay. That's a bit of a lofty title. But the intent is that quitting your job can be done in a way that inspires, is graceful, and above all: tells a story. I call this the List and Frame approach. It's an approach I've developed over the years based on my own experience giving notice* six times and experiencing others who gave notice. In the least, this approach is a useful way to organize your thoughts in what is usually a tumultuous time in your life.

 [* I'll use quit, give notice, resign, and other words interchangeably throughout, though none is perfect. "Quit" sounds defeatist to me. "Resign" is to close to resignation in the sense of accepting something unavoidable and undesirable. "Give notice" seems like you are disinterested in the whole process.]

I usually need to sort through the reasons why I am leaving. In my last resignation, it was particularly difficult because there was nothing driving me out, like an abrasive culture or lack of growth. On the contrary, it was very hard to leave. Nor, was there a new job offer coaxing me to resign. Instead, it was a life choice that was the driver: we had decided to take time to travel and explore for an extended period of time.

Back to the List and Frame approach. It's pretty simple. You create three lists to organize your thoughts and then use them to frame your story about why you are leaving.

Let's get started.

1. Create List A, the :-) list.

This list is all the reasons why resigning is a good next step in your career and life. List positive and aspirational goals. Maybe there are a lot of questions and not much data on this list. That's okay. Some examples might include:

• Take time for a sabbatical to write a book, volunteer.
• Spend time with family.
• Pursue personal interests, get back into a hobby or interest.
• Take extended time off to travel, explore.
• Detach to recharge

List A is positive, opportunity-focused. 

A word about word choices. Words like reboot, decompress, rejuvenate, might be tempting to use, but should be used with caution because listeners may hear the opposite. For example, reboot might translate in someone's mind to "oh, she's in a corrupted state here."  Similarly, decompress becomes "wow, it's too compressed here," and rejuvenate could be interpreted as "this place wears you down". While these might be true, think about the impact you leave with words.

2. Create List B, the :-( list.

This is all the things you'll miss about the job. Be open and magnanimous in this list. This list is useful when you talking about leaving and thanking people for helping your out or just being there.

3. Create List C, the :@ list.

Let it all out in this list. Allow yourself the freedom to create this list. It includes rants about the work culture, the people, the process. It includes perceived slights and insults. Be honest about if the items in the list are generally true or just a feeling you get, sometimes, all the time, or only during review time. Your feelings are valid, make note of them. The reason for a feeling may not be what you think. Be honest if you think you are generalizing, if the problem is you or one of job fit. This is all fine. Just capture the ideas. This list may dredge up negative emotion or behaviors that extend far beyond work. Emotions and behaviors that you've carried like tchotchke, job to job, and set up on each new desk you occupy.  All this is fine, just get it captured.

List C is negative, sour, and petty. It's all the things about your job that bug you, in particular, on those dark days when it seemed like you could just walk out the door and never turn around. List C can also be insightful and useful, but, it shouldn't be the focus of why you are leaving. In fact, not much on this list should see the light of day when telling your story. If you think that your List C has some insight that could help, then 1-1 talks with manager or HR may be the best venue, not as your story of why you are leaving.

4. Frame you story.

First and foremost: positive trumps negative when it comes to why you are leaving. So what list do you think you are going to use the most? Think of all the times when a coworker left. What did you remember? Probably positive, life-changing transitions. Negative transitions don't inspire and are quickly forgotten.

So, think of framing and delivering your story to an audience (your manager, your coworkers, the guy who works in the cafe) as if giving a presentation. It has to be positive. The audience has to believe your story. Some of the best advice comes from How to Give a Killer Presentation:

• Take the audience on a journey.
• Frame the talk as a journey.
• Explain why you care so deeply about what you're doing and why they should too.
• Don't go too broad, prefer deep.
• Maintain eye contact.             

Translating this for leaving your job:

• What is your big next step? Rehearse it to yourself, practice the 1 sentence delivery over and over until it sounds natural, and you believe it.
• Why are you taking this next step and how does it fit into your larger journey? Get your audience engaged and rooting for you. Anyone who hears the story should walk away with a message of opportunity, that this is the best next step for you.
• Leave questions and intrigue your audience's mind. You don't need to explain every detail that led up to your decision. Listeners will fill in their own romantic details. Don't deny them that.
• In general: keep it positive and forward-looking.

That's it, the List and Frame method. 

Now for a couple of questions you might have:

Q: So why do I care about what people think?

A: Because, you may work with these people again. If you won't, then why burn bridges?

Q: Who cares if I go negative framing my story?

A: You should. It's a big world, but we run in small circles. Maybe the story will inspire someone who will remember it and help you in the future.

Q: My story really is negative, what should I do?

A: Sorry about that. Stick with the simpler message of change and call it a day.