A Hike to Santuario di Rosciano – Santuario Grotta di Lourdes of Bergamo

Overview | Notes | Flora and Fauna | More Photos

Top left: Chiesetta di San Marco alla Maresana.
Top right: View east from Via alla Zarda across lower Maresana.
Bottom left: The entrance to Grotta di Rosciano.
Bottom center: A statue in the grotto.
Bottom right: The hike tracks.

Overview

Length: ~ 13.5 km

Duration: ~ 5 hours (includes lunch)

Elevation: 533 m elevation gain max

Location: Italy, Lombardy, Bergamo - Ponteranica

Notes

We had two objectives in mind for today's hike: finding a different way up to Maresana and stopping by the La Grotta di Rosciano, also called Santuario Grotta di Lourdes.

Maresana is the hill just north of Bergamo this is easily reacheable on foot from anywhere in Bergamo. Or, with a little help from the #6 bus to take you to the base of the hill. The max elevation in Maresana (Hill) is a respectable 546 m (1,791 feet). Not far from Maresana and completely connected by hiking trails is Canto Alto (Mountain) at 1,146 m (3,759 feet). The exact cutoff between hill and mountain is debatable, but Maresana feels like a hill and Canto Alto a mountain.

We've covered trips to Maresana numerous times, including:

• January 2020 – A Hike to Maresana for Lunch
• November 2020 – Two Hikes in the Hills of Parco dei Colli di Bergamo (passing through Maresana)
• August 2020 – Roundtrip Bergamo to Selvino (passing through Maresana)
• July 2020 – A Classic Bergamo Hike: Canto Alto (passing through Maresana)
• March 2020 – A Sunday Walk to Maresana
• May 2017 – A Short Hike from Bergamo to Monte di Nese (passing through Maresana)
• March 2017 – Walk from Bergamo to Maresana for Lunch
• June 2017 – A Hike from Maresana to Selvino
• December 2016 – A Walk from Bergamo to Ponteranica (passing through Maresana)
• December 2015 – Bergamo to Canto Alto (passing through Maresana)

The question you might be formulating is why don't we just move to Maresana?  And, note the number of hikes in 2020 with Maresana as goal or waypoint. It's indicative of zero travel and a more intense focus on local attractions during the pandemic. Tourism kilometer zero.

We started today's hike by entering in Porta San'Agostino of Città Alta and exiting out Porta Garibaldi (technically named Porta San Lorenzo), and following Val Verde to a point we could cross SS470.

At this point we are in the neighborhoods of Valtesse and Valbona. Open City Maps shows "paths" up the hill, but as we found out, some went over private property or really weren't paths at all. In the end, we walked up part of the way on Via Maresana. We felt a little defeated. (Close inspection of the attached hike tracks shows a point were we back tracked  on Via Richetti – rare for Travelmarx!)

From Via Maresana we walked a short stretch on Via Rosciano to find the grotto. Our spirits lifted immediately upon entering the La Grotta di Rosciano complex. The sanctuary/church is located in Rosciano, a frazione or hamlet of Ponteranica – just north of Bergamo across the valley. Rosciano is more or less the western part of Maresana.

The sanctuary has relatively recent origins. A parish priest named Luigi Ravasio was visiting the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in France in 1925 and came up with the idea of recreating a smaller version of the famous pilgrimage sight in his own parish in Bergamo. According to an old brochure explaining the history of the grotto, the village was in need of a good source of drinking water as well. After many studies, consultation of dowsers (rabdomante in Italian) and tests, a source was found and the grotto was dedicated on September 13, 1930. 

In English, we say grotto, while in Italian, it's grotta, feminine.

On our visit to the grotto today, we were the only ones. Perhaps on a gray day with light rain, no one is interested in a going inside a grotto? The church and source of water is excavated from a hillside with a road running over it. At maximum depth, the church penetrates about 75 feet into the hillside, really more of a chasm with light from above.

From the small garden in front of the grotto there is a pleasant view northwest toward Monte Linzone.

As a final word about La Grotta di Rosciano also labeled prominently as Santuario Grotta di Lourdes, it seems our parish priest Ravasio wasn't the only one moved to create a replica of Lourdes. The Wikipedia Lourdes grotto page lists a number of replicas around the world.

After the grotto, we hoofed it up Via Rosciano and then veered off into the woods on a trail to La Maresana (trattoria) for a nice, relaxed lunch. And to return back to Bergamo we followed trails down to end up on Via Col di Lana and Via all Zarda.

Lunch at Maresana, antipasto, primo (onion soup and crepes), and secondo (polenta with eggs and mushrooms).

Flora and Fauna

For flora, there were the usual mid winter suspects: the welcome splash of purple from common hepatica Anemone hepatica and a few gangly Christmas roses Helleborous niger, both in the buttercup (Ranunculaceae) family.

Left: Anemone. Center and right: Helleborous.

An unusual discovery was Pyrrhocoris apteris – commonly called the "firebug" near the Chiesetta di San Marco alla Maresana. To be honest, we went to rip ivy off the tree and noticed these insects.

In Italian, this insect is called la cimice rosso nera for it's resemblance to another insect, cimice. Cimice can mean bug (insect and hidden microphone) as well as specifically refer to Palomena prasina – the European shield bug or green stink bug, which is often just referred to as cimice. The emit a pungent odor when squished.

Photos of firebug under ivy leaves.

More Photos

Left: Altar in the Grotta di Rosciano.
Center: Garden outside the grotto.
Right: Informational sign in the grotto.

Left: Entrance to the grotto of Rosciano.
Right: The entrance to the grotto complex.

Left: The view from the garden northwest.
Right: A roadside altar on the way to Maresana.


Left: One of the many trails up to Maresana.
Center and right: Hike statistics.

Street Sign Language Lesson XXXIV – Fried Dough, Lies, and Gossip

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Chiacchiere at Forno Fassi.

Today's Street Sign Language Lesson ™ is about the fried dough treats we call "angel wings" in English. Soon after Epiphany passes (in Italy a significant holiday), these fried dough treats start appearing stores and bakeries.

Angel wings are fried dough (flour, water, egg, butter), shaped into twisted ribbons or flat strips that are deep-fried or baked, and served sprinkled with powdered sugar. Angel wings are eaten before Lent. The name "angel wings" can be assumed to refer to the lightness of these fried treats?

In Italy, there are many different regional names for angel wings, loosely based on two naming themes in my opinion. Theme one is what they look like, e.g., rags (stracci or cencio), gloves (guanti), bow or ribbon (galano) or lettuce (lattughe). Theme two perhaps refers to carnival or perhaps to that the fact that the final treats are not as heavy as they look? Names in this theme are chitchat (chiacchiere), lies (bugie), and gossip (pettegolezzi).

The company featured in many of these photos is Gecchele and they are based in Treviso. What the company has done is taken a few of the many region names – see here for more – and paired them with and characters from the commedia dell'arte.

Full disclosure: we did not buy any of the packaged examples. Why would we when they are so easy available, reasonably priced and fresh from a local bakery? The photo at the top of this post was taken at the bakery Forno Fassi (Città Alta). In Bergamo, we usually see the word chiacchiere used the most.

The types of chiacchiere you can find in stores is more that what is shown here. This is just a sample from one day we went shopping at PAM.

Bugie di Brighella

Bugia (pl. bugie) is a lie or a candlestick holder. Brighella is a masked character from the Italian theater style of commedia dell'arte. As we see on the packaging, Brighella typically wears a white smock. His character the Harlequin's smarter and vindictive older brother.

The term bugie is typical of Piemonte, Liguria.

Chiacchere di Balanzone

Chiacchiera (pl. chiacchiere) means a regional Italian sweet, but also means chit-chat or gossip. The associated verb is chiacchierare. Balanzone is another commedia dell'arte stock character. He is the old man, acting as an obstacle to young lovers. As seen on the packaging, Balanzone is usually pictured as a robust man.

The term chiacchiere is used all over Italy, but mostly from the middle to the south.

It is odd that the packaging (and the web site – no typo it seems) uses "chiacchere" without the second letter I.

Burlette di Gianduia

Burletta (pl. burlette) is a little joke. Gianduia (or Gianduja) "is one of the masks of the Italian commedia dell'arte, typically representing the town of Turin". Gianduja is also the name of the famous chocolate spread, such as nutella, invented in Turin at the beginning of the 18^th century. Gianduia, the character, is an honest peasant with an penchant for wine, good food, and beautiful woman.

Pettegolezzi di Colombina

Pettegolezzo (pl. pettegolezzi) is gossip.  Colombina – "little dove" is a stock character in the Commedia dell'arte. She is a tricky servant.

Galani dei Dogi

The term galàni is used in the area between Venice, Padua and Verona. Galano is a decorative bow or ribbon. A doge (pl. dogi) where elected heads of some Italian city-states during the medieval and renaissance periods. The word doge is closely associated with Venice, and in fact on the packaging of this product there is the unmistakable Campanile di San Marco in Venice.

I Quadri di Arlecchino

Arelecchino is a famous masked Bergamasco character in the commedia dell'arte. In English, we call him Harlequin and he is the comical servant dressed in a bold checkered (a quadri) outfit.

Mascherina Trevisan

Mascherina means a face mask, which could be a face mask we are using currently during the pandemic, or an eye or half mask used as part of a costume such as used during carnival.  Trevisan is just the name of the company producing these angel wings.

Lattughelle

Lattuga means lettuce. Lattughella (pl. lattughelle) is either the salad green lamb's lettuce or mâche (Valerianella locusta), known for its nutty, mild flavor. It's commonly found in Bergamo as a salad green. The guess here is that the shape of the fried dough resembles lettuce leaves.

Coriandoli Fritti

Corandiolo is confetti or little chads. Fried (fritti) confetti just doesn't have a nice ring to it, does it?

A Hike to Maresana for Lunch

Overview | Notes | Flora

Left: A small waterfall on the Torrente Tremana in Bergamo, Italy.
Right: A primrose, Primula vulgaris along the trail.

Overview

Length:  ~14km

Duration: 3.5 hours (without counting lunch)

Elevation: Max elevation 681 m (2230 ft). Min elevation 262 m (860 ft).

Location: Italy, Lombardy, Bergamo - Ponteranica

Notes

Our first hike of 2021 and it's to Maresana. During lockdown restrictions, a walk to Maresana is not a bad substitute to going deep into the Orobie or the Dolomites like we usually do. From the center of Bergamo, Maresana is a hop, skip, and a jump away. Today being a "yellow" day we could eat inside Trattoria Maresana, one of our favorite places to walk to and eat at.

Today, we walked as far as Villa Pighet and turned around when our stomachs told us it was time for lunch. Not too long ago in 2017, we were headed for Selvino and mistakenly got off of trail 533 and ended up at Villa Pighet. We did make it eventually to Selvino, but lost an hour backtracking because Pighet is in the wrong direction. So for us Villa Pighet invokes images of that day when we realized how far off track we were. There is a beautiful view north into the Val Seriana from Pighet so for that reason alone, it's worth a look. (The restaurant there was closed today.)

For a description of getting from Bergamo to Selvino walking, see our post Roundtrip Bergamo to Selvino on Foot, Cable Car, Bus, and Tram.

One of the many trails climbing Maresana starts at Via Monterosso here. It runs roughly north-south just east of the usual way up, trail 533.  The Via Monterosso trail wasn't one we had taken before and we were pleasantly surprised taking it today because it runs along the charming Tremana stream (torrente Tremana), with small waterfalls of smooth limestone. The stream springs out of the mountain halfway up to Maresana at a point called "il Fontanino di Monterosso".  All considered, a pleasant discovery and path up to Maresana.

Views along the Torrente Tremana trail to Maresana.

Left and center: Hike details and track. Right: View north from Pighet over Monte Zuccone toward Salmezza.

Flora

Left and center: [Liliaceae] Ruscus aculeatus. Common name: Butcher's broom. In Italian: pungitopo.
Right: [Ranunculaceae] Hepatica nobilis. Common name: Liverwort or Common Hepatica.

[Ranunculaceae] Helleborus niger - Christmas rose.

Monumento ai Caduti Partigiani – One Story of Resistance

Background | 1944 | Memorials | Photos

Left: The Monumento ai Caduti Partigiani in Bergamo.
Right: A sign explaining what happened on September 26th, 1944.

Background

As we wind down a challenging year for the world and democracy in the USA, it takes stories from the past to shake us out of our daze and remind us of what we have in front of us and to not take it for granted. One of those stories for us is one we learned about recently on a hike around Bergamo. The story unfolded on September 26^th, 1944 in the hills just behind Bergamo's upper city. On that day, nine young Italians were killed. Five were killed in a gun fight in the hills and four were executed in the nearby hamlet of Petosino. This monument we visited is a tribute to them.

The name Monumento ai caduti partigiani translates at the Monument to the Partisans. A partisan is "a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity." In this case, the partigiani honored by the monument were fighting against the occupation of Italy by Germany between September 1943 and April 1945. The partigiani originated in the 1920s, but for our story here, we are in the middle of World War II, about a year after Italy changed sides and joined the Allies.

The partigiani were an important part of the Italian resistance movement, which was a mosaic of various groups with different goals, but more or less aligned to kick out the Germans. And they succeeded with the help of Allied forces. The nine partisans in this story belonged to a group called the Brigate Fiamme Verdi (Green Flame Brigade) of predominantly Roman Catholic orientation. Other groups in the resistance include anarchists, communists, and socialists.

1944

In the early morning hours of a September 26^th, 1944, partisans of the Green Flame Brigade (including the nine later killed) raided a German supply point in Curno with the hopes of stealing much needed arms, ammunition, and other equipment. The raid didn't go as planned. The partisans expected that there would be a get-away vehicle they could also steal to help them escape with the loot, but unfortunately, there wasn't.  So, the group of partisans beat a retreat on foot to the hills, dragging the loot with them.

The hills they escaped to are the ones northwest of Bergamo's upper city in the area where the monument is located. Specifically, the partisans ended up on the crest of the hill behind Madonna della Castagna.  For an example of walk with this church as your destination, see the post A Walk from Bergamo to Madonna della Castagna.

So the partisans are on the ridge of the forested hill and realize that they are surrounded by German forces. Some of the partisans with papers in order are told to escape. Four of those were later captured and executed. The 15 or so remaining on the hill fought the Germans. Five died in battle and the rest escaped.  As suggested by the monument's information panel, the bodies of killed partisans (in battle and executed) were left out in the street for a day as a warning to others about joining the resistance. Only the day after, would anyone dare come to collect the bodies and take them for burial.

Memorials

We used to wonder about the number of war memorials in Italy, from big ones like the Parco delle Rimembranze (La Rocca), to a moderate-sized monument like this monument hidden in the hills, to a small plaques we have seen countless times hiking. Whatever the size, they seemed to us like heavy reminders to have around.

A recent book helped us to understand the memorials a little bit better. The book is "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century" by Timothy Snyder, where the author describes two antihistorical ways of viewing history, the politics of inevitability and the politics of eternity. In short, the politics of inevitability is "the sense that history could move in only one direction: toward liberal democracy." And the politics of eternity "is a longing for past moments that never really happened during epochs that were, in fact, disastrous." We realized that we were very guilty of the politics of inevitability. With the step backwards in the last four years in the US and elsewhere in the world, we struggled to understand what was happening. Because we subscribed to the politics of inevitability we couldn't understand the regression in liberal democracy. We learn from our past mistakes and we don't repeat them, right?  Societies move to more inclusion not less, right? If so, why is this happening.

So on this sunny and peaceful Sunday morning, standing in front of this monument, it dawned on us why these monuments exist. They are here to remind us of the past so that we don't make the mistake of the politics of inevitability. Just because something horrible happened in the past doesn't necessarily mean it won't happen again. As Mark Twain said: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes." To this point, see the NOEMA article "Welcome to the Turbulent Twenties".

Photos

Views of the Monumento ai Caduti Partigiani.

The three arches of the Monumento ai Caduti Partigiani on a hill above Petosino, near Bergamo.


Left and center: Information about the men killed and their route that led them to the hills.
Right: Signage in hills behind Bergamo indicating how to find the monument.

Traccia Partigiana or "trail of the partisans" sign lists the partisans.

Left: One approach to the Monument ai Caduti Partigiani is from the Greenway del Morla bike trail with views toward Monte Linzone and Resegone.
Right: Walking back to the Bergamo, you can pass along the fascinating Via del Rione and pass by the Case Moroni.

A Walk from Bergamo to Madonna della Castagna

Upper left: Via Madonna della Castagna with pollarded trees.
Upper Center: The façade of church of Madonna della Castagna.
Upper Right: The walk tracks presented in ViewRanger.

Lower Left: Via Fontana connects to Via Madonna della Castagna.
Lower Center: View from Via Monte Bastia looking toward “l’infinito”.

Lower Right: The trail in the hills behind Madonna della Castagana.

The walking options in and around Bergamo are endless. Today, we headed up to the hills "behind" Bergamo, which would be technically northwest of the upper city, to get out after days of gray inclement weather.

Today's hike clocked in at about 13 km (8 miles), with an elevation gain of 641 m (2100 feet), and a total time of just under 3 hours. A perfect late afternoon amble. Our start and end point was Piazzetta Delfino and our turn-around point was Madonna della Castagna.

Madonna della Castagna – officially called Santuario della Beata Vergine della Castagna – is a church located at the foot of the hills stretching southeast to northwest from Bergamo to Sombreno. The church is on the west side of the spine enjoying a sunny location on the edge of beech and chestnut forest. The prettiest approach to the church is on the small country lane flanked with trees called Via Madonna della Castagna. (Italy's roads generally are named from what the bring you to or from. We love that.)

Behind the church, you can pick up a number of trails that take you to the crest of the hill from which you can head southeast back to Bergamo's upper city or northwest to Sombreno, another church.  We descended from the hill to the church and took Via Madonna della Castagna back to home base.

Madonna della Castagna is said to have been build by a farmer who was busy working in his field when the Madonna appeared asking for a castagna (a chestnut) and he said no way and she plopped a church down on his land as retribution….well not really, she kindly expressed that an oratory be build and the farmer complied. Now if only that Madonna would make more appearances and tell people to wear masks.

Left: The entrance to a cappella on Via Fontana.
Left Center: The Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Rocco Confessore sits on above via Fontana.
Right Center: Via Colle dei Roccoli.
Right: The backside of Madonna della Castagna.

Stinking Bob – On the Wall

Photos of Geranium robertianum in Bergamo.

Stinking Bob is one name for Geranium robertianum and a plant we’ve observed occasionally on the walls of Bergamo. It's not as common as other plants (see list below).

Our first experience with Stinking Bob was in Seattle in our yard. We ripped out a lot of it in our yard in Seattle where it seemed to magically reappear overnight. Half the biomass in our yard was for a time Stinking Bob and it's friend Arum italicum. Stinking Bob is on the non-regulated Class B noxious weed list in King County, which includes Seattle. 

G. robertianum is a common species of Geranium native to Europe, and parts or Asia, North America, and North Africa. Stinking Bob gets around.

G. robertainum goes by many common names and we prefer a conflation of two of them, Stinking Bob and Herb-Robert, to come up with Stinking Robert, in honor of a friend of ours. So why "stinking"? It's because this geranium has a distinct smell when the leaves are crushed or even brushed up against. It is described as displeasing, but we would say displeasing depends on the nose of the beholder.

So here we are a continent away with our old friend except this time we just walking by and not thinking of ripping it out. On Via Ramera in Bergamo to be exact. Hello Stinking Robert, nice to see you again.

A list of our wall plants of Bergamo thus far:

• Geranium robertianum - Stinking Bob
• Erigeron karvinskianus (post) - Mexican Fleabane
• Asplenium ceterach (post) - Rustyback Fern
• Asplenium ruta-muraria (post) - Wall Rue
• Asplenium trichomanes (post) - Maidenhair spleenwort
• Parietaria diffusa (post) - Pellitory
• Cymbalaria muralis (post) - Pennywort

A photo of Geranium robertianum in Bergamo.