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Percorsi Occitani — the path of rebirth of the Maira Valley

Routes
Pilgrim Routes

Percorsi Occitani — the path of rebirth of the Maira Valley

Percorsi Occitani — the path of rebirth of the Maira Valley
Sonja

Percorsi Occitani — the path of rebirth of the Maira Valley

Hiking Collection by Marika Abbà

14

days

2-8 h

/ day

183 km

8,850 m

8,860 m

Percorsi Occitani (PO) is a trek of 14 stages totalling about 175 kilometres (109 mi). This itinerary touches the two sides of the Maira Valley and many neighbouring valleys, often little known and unfrequented. During the walk, you’ll discover the valley’s symbolic places such as the Ciciu del Villar Reserve, the Gardetta Plateau, ancient chapels and hamlets.

All the stages end in small alpine hamlets and the stage stations are mainly family-run. Here, you can experience daily life in the mountains, taste classic local dishes, sample the products of local farms and be delighted by Occitan songs and music.

The Occitan Paths were created to breathe new life into the mule tracks that have linked the various villages of the Maira Valley since ancient times. At the beginning of the 1990s, tour operators, mountain guides, hoteliers, enthusiasts and public bodies, including the Comunità Montana Valle Maira, all joined forces and completed this important, long-term project: creating the Associazione Percorsi Occitani. Thanks to this itinerary, the valley slowly repopulated: more and more people decided to invest their earnings and their time in opening new accommodation facilities, the children of those who had emigrated to the plains or to the big cities to find their fortune returned to the valley and began to renovate their family homes, creating a new future.

The Maira Valley, unlike many other neighbouring valleys, hasn’t experienced illegal construction: there are no huge mansions, only old stone huts with cylindrical columns, roofs made of losa (slate slabs) and wooden beams. There are no ski facilities or ski lifts. Everything is in perfect harmony with the surrounding environment.

The valley is only connected to neighbouring France by footpaths. While this has been partly responsible for historic depopulation, it’s turned out to be an asset, as it’s ensured that the valley remains a treasure trove of tradition.

Walking along the paths and mule tracks, you might catch a glimpse of marmots, roe deer, ibex and chamois while above your head you often spot birds of prey. Herds grazing in the summer pastures are a blissful sight as well. On starry nights, the Milky Way reveals itself in all its beauty.

I recommend you undertake the Occitan Trails between June and October so you won’t be hampered by large accumulations of snow on the high altitude paths. The stages in the lower-middle valley, on the other hand, can be done as early as May.

When packing your rucksack, don't forget breathable technical clothing, some warmer clothing, a rain jacket, a windbreaker, a water bottle, a good supply of food, a pair of sturdy boots and trekking poles. In the valley there’s a Sherpabus, a luggage and passenger transport service that you can rely on to lighten your backpack and your journey. Every morning you can leave your suitcase at your accommodation, only taking the essentials on the trail. When you reach your new accommodation at the end of the day, the Sherpabus will have already brought your luggage along. Easy!

Wild camping is allowed along the trails, but remember to set up your tent shortly before sunset and take it down immediately after sunrise. There are three campsites in the valley: at Prazzo, Chiappera (Acceglio) and Canosio. As far as accommodation is concerned, I recommend you book well in advance, especially if you’re walking in the middle of summer. You can find the list of stopover points on the official website of the Associazione Percorsi Occitani: percorsioccitani.com/percorsi-occitani-posti-tappa

You can reach the start point by car: the Ciciu del Villar Nature Reserve has a large car park. Using public transport is more complex: you’ll have to take a bus from Cuneo (line 92) to Dronero and from there you can walk to the reserve, which is a long and energy-consuming option for the first stage. Alternatively, you can organise a private transfer. Cuneo is just over an hour by train from Torino Porta Nuova. For the return journey, however, you can take a direct bus from Dronero to Cuneo, or reach Villar San Costanzo on foot or by taxi to collect your car.

To find out the opening times of the sites along the route and the events in the Maira Valley, I suggest you look at the Tourist Office of Dronero’s website vallemaira.org

Enjoy your walk!

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Occitan Paths (PO)

173 km

8,270 m

8,290 m

Last updated: November 27, 2024

Plan your own version of this adventure in the multi-day planner based on the stages suggested in this Collection.

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Activities

  1. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

    Stage 1: Villar San Costanzo to Sant'Anna di Roccabruna — Occitan routes

    05:20

    16.4km

    3.1km/h

    950m

    340m

    Expert
    Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

    The first stage starts from the Ciciu del Villar Nature Reserve, a place populated by bizarre rock conformations reminiscent of mushrooms. The Ciciu are composed of a sturdy gneiss cap, a metamorphic rock, and a stalk of compact pebbles. Their origin dates back to the last ice age, when the Faussimagna

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  2. 03:26

    11.1km

    3.2km/h

    370m

    430m

    Intermediate
    Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

    The second stage starts from the Roccabruna Sanctuary and ends in Pagliero di San Damiano Macra. If you do not have enough food with you, I recommend that you take advantage of the local trattorias to have a packed lunch prepared, because you will not encounter food shops along the path.

    

    Immediately immerse

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  4. 05:02

    13.6km

    2.7km/h

    640m

    840m

    Expert
    Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

    The song of the birds that flutter here and there on the branches of the trees gives you a good morning and after a hearty breakfast, it's time to get back on the road. Pack all your things, backpack and go down to Pagliero, following the same itinerary as the previous day.

    

    Continue along the different

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  5. 03:43

    10.6km

    2.9km/h

    620m

    530m

    Intermediate
    Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

    Leave the village of Camoglieres behind you and follow the path of the Cyclamen Path backwards. Flank the cliff and continue on the path surrounded by lush vegetation. Unfortunately, the processionary moth is present in this area: you will notice it by observing thick cobwebs wrapping the tips of the

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  6. 04:36

    13.3km

    2.9km/h

    890m

    360m

    Intermediate
    Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required.

    You leave again following the dense network of mule tracks that was once the only link between the different villages and between the plain and the upper valley. The path is bordered by dry stone walls, a work of mastery from the past that has come down to us. These works were used to contain the soil

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  7. 03:30

    10.3km

    2.9km/h

    490m

    560m

    Intermediate
    Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required.

    Leave the center of Elva behind and continue towards the villages below Monte Chersogno. If walking through the alleys of Borgata Dao the name sounds familiar to you, no wonder: it is a typical surname of the Elvese and yesterday you will surely have seen it written everywhere while walking around the

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  8. 03:03

    8.89km

    2.9km/h

    390m

    630m

    Intermediate
    Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

    Say goodbye to Borgata Allemandi and San Michele di Prazzo and head towards Castiglione, a village inhabited by friendly gnomes who delight all passers-by, young or old. From here, in fact, the Remo Einaudi Path passes, animated by these nice presences.

    

    Let yourself be guided by the mule track that runs

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  9. 05:23

    14.9km

    2.8km/h

    980m

    710m

    Expert
    Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

    The eighth stage starts immediately with a nice climb towards the grange, now abandoned, which have fascinating jagged peaks as a backdrop. Drinking troughs and electric wires make you understand that even today cows return to the mountain pastures from which good milk is obtained for the production

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  10. 04:15

    12.7km

    3.0km/h

    630m

    510m

    Intermediate
    Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required.

    Waking up in Chiappera is something magical: around you reign only the sounds of nature and in the distance the whistles of marmots alarmed by the passage of morning hikers.

    

    Say goodbye to this wonderful hamlet and take the path that leads to the Sorgenti del Maira. If you check the complete tour, you

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  11. 02:26

    5.84km

    2.4km/h

    710m

    90m

    Intermediate
    Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required.

    Good morning! It's time to leave, backpack on your back and head towards Prato Ciorliero, which more than a name seems like a tongue twister. The name of this place is thought to derive from the Occitan term "chouliero", which is a field cultivated with vegetables and in particular with cabbages. This

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  12. 07:32

    20.5km

    2.7km/h

    520m

    1,650m

    Expert
    Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required.

    The first light of dawn colors the peaks surrounding the Gardetta plateau in red. The sun's rays hit you, giving you a little warmth, chasing away the cool of the morning. Walk along the mule track that descends towards Colle del Preit in the most incredible quiet there is. Around you only the echo of

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  13. 03:25

    9.10km

    2.7km/h

    600m

    330m

    Intermediate
    Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required.

    The twelfth stage begins by walking through the streets of the enchanting hamlets of Marmora which over the years have been saved from abandonment and renovated to make them accommodation facilities or private homes.

    

    In Borgata Superiore, take the path that runs alongside the wooden cross and start climbing

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  14. 03:39

    9.93km

    2.7km/h

    360m

    560m

    Expert
    Expert hike. Good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

    The penultimate stage starts from Borgata Palent and develops in the valley of Celle Macra, a little known and popular but truly authentic place.

    

    The path immediately leads you to the chapel of San Magno, a small church not far from Palent's houses. It is dedicated to the patron saint of cattle and pastures

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  15. 08:27

    25.8km

    3.1km/h

    680m

    1,320m

    Expert
    Expert hike. Very good fitness required. Sure-footedness, sturdy shoes and alpine experience required.

    Here you are at the last stage of this incredible journey. Today you will reach your goal, Dronero. Legs on your shoulders and off you go!

    

    Next to the parish church of Celle Macra, the museum of anchovies and continue on the mule track that runs along ancient dry stone walls. The vegetation around you

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Collection Stats

  • Activities
    14
  • Distance
    183 km
  • Duration
    63:47 h
  • Elevation
    8,850 m8,860 m

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