The gold of Lavagnina

Start:

End:
Path lenght:

Difference in altitude:

Difficulty:

Ring path:

Trekking date:

Road to the dam
Funtanin lake
8,5 Km
50 mt
Easy
Yes
September

In the small
Klondike
of lower Piedmont,
where gold was
once mined.

THE GOLD OF LAVAGNINA

Start: road to the dam

End: Funtanin lake
Path lenght: 8.5 km.

Difference in altitude: 50 mt.

Difficulty: easy

Ring path: yes

Trekking date: september

The gold of Lavagnina

We share the coordinates:
44.611984, 8.742435
(Copy and paste in Google Maps search label)

Perhaps not everyone knows that in the past the alluvial plains between the Gorzente and Orba streams were sifted far and wide for gold.

His systematic research began with the Romans, who founded the settlements of Rondinaria and Rondinella and forced thousands of slaves to sift the river, to create small docks and to remove the heavy boulders from the riverbed by massing them along the banks, a hard work still visible today while walking on the paths that flank the Gorzente and Piota streams.

The sifting of the gold-bearing sands contained in the alluvial deposits subsequently passed to the barbarians, the Saracens and the monks, and continued with this method until the beginning of the 19th century, when the rumors of the probable veins contained in the belly of the mountains reached industrialists.

The scenographic and silent lower lake of Lavagnina.

The nineteenth century was the century of the gold rush in southern Piedmont, which became the Italian Klondike, a hopeful mirage of a rich man. Foreign capital was used to open mines and dig into the bowels of the earth, persistently looking for every possible gold vein.

But you know, all dreams come to an end: the little gold found ran out towards the end of the century, bringing the mines to complete abandonment. With it also ended the hopes, submerged when the artificial reservoir of the Lavagnina was completed which flooded the abandoned building of transformation of the straws into ingots.

The jump of Lake Superior Lavagnina.

Today in this area it is possible to take a very simple walk along the lake, which, seen from above, resembles a horseshoe.

The route starts from the barrier of the road that leads to the caretaker's house and crosses a truly wild and harsh landscape, where in the steep points of the gorge carved by the stream you will see the green penstock run.

Lavagnina Lower Lake Dam and the keeper's house.

The penstock that runs alongside the road leading to the dam.

In this stretch you walk on always flat asphalt, while once you reach the caretaker's house the road turns into a path that runs alongside the lake until you reach the small upper lake, an object of bathing and relaxation during the summer (strictly forbidden to swim in the largest lake due to the dangerous eddies that can be generated suddenly).

The first spring flowers with the lake in the background.

Lower Lavagnina Lake as seen from the nature trail.

The nature trail, which notes the orographic context of the area and explains the local fauna and flora, reaches the Funtanin lake at the edge of the wood, where the easy excursion can be considered complete. We also stopped here because we had little time, but for those wishing to continue towards the Valico degli Eremiti and Mount Tobbio the path becomes much longer, more difficult and impervious.

The Gorzente torrent. Following its course you reach the "Eremiti pass" and the area of Mount Tugello.

Trekking Map

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: Capanne di Marcarolo Natural Park; 10 September 2021; Hits: 963