Sanctuary of Madonna del Colletto

At the end of a not long but rather hard climb in the slopes, the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Colletto has been recently renovated and enhanced and every Sunday, especially in summer, it is not uncommon to find many people here, for religious celebrations or not.

Ascent to be roughly divided into two halves on the Festiona side. In the first, very demanding stretches alternate with short easier passages, in the second the slope becomes more continuous, without ever presenting ramps higher than 10%, but does not offer large recovery points. Peaks of 12.5% in three sections before km 3, Passing to 11% even in the last 500 m.

I was really looking forward to going up to the Santuario della Madonna del Colletto. I had been to this area several times and had not had the opportunity to go up here. So on the trip through Piedmont in July 2022 I made sure that the planned route passed through here. We went up the western slope, the one used by the Giro d'Italia when it first went up here in 1999, on the famous stage where the Fauniera was climbed, with the spectacle of Pantani climbing and the stratospheric descent of Paolo Savoldelli.
I have to admit that the climb itself is not very attractive. Once you leave the village of Festiona behind, you enter a forest and there are hardly any views over the valley. You can only focus on the road, its curves, straights (which there are) and difficult slopes. The asphalt is old, with a lot of gravel and very uneven, which obviously adds difficulty to the climb.
The climb up the western side is 7.1 km, 576 metres of elevation and an average gradient of 8.1%. Therefore, it is very hard!! And there are several sections above 12%, especially in the first kilometres, where the gradient is irregular, with very hard sections and small rest areas.
The views of the Valdieri valley from the Sanctuary are very beautiful, and also of all the mountains covered with forests and vegetation in the surroundings.
We took advantage of the porch at the entrance to the Sanctuary to take shelter from the sun and the heat, and to stock up on food and eat some spectacular sandwiches. I remember it fondly.
Below is the altimetry of the climb published by @cyclingcols, the best in these matters --> cyclingcols.com/col/Colletto