Another Hike from Santa Maria in Calanca down to the Moesa River

Sunday February 15, 2026 -- After at least a week of rain (and some new snow from Saturday to Sunday), plus another upcoming week of rain, we were gifted with one single nice day, once again in Canton Ticino. Sunshine with strong cold winds, but we wanted to take this opportunity for another outing and an early spring hike.

On this particular weekend, many communities are celebrating carnival, very popular everywhere, no matter the weather! But in Bellinzona, the second largest carnival parade in Switzerland was also taking place in the afternoon, so if we wanted to avoid the crowds, we had to start early and try to steer clear of the Bellinzona/Locarno region, which is difficult because that's where the temperatures were the warmest and the winds less intense.

So we chose to head into the Mesocco Valley (which is actually part of Canton Graubünden but accessed via Bellinzona) and started a hike in the mountain village of Santa Maria in the Calanca Valley (where we have been twice before, most recently in March 2025 when we did a similar hike), and walked down to the valley town of Roveredo. This region is somewhat eastward of the popular Locarno/Bellinzona region, and required us only to change trains in Bellinzona. We opted not to watch the Rabadan Parade, as we had caught parts of it back in March of 2019. It was a lovely hike, even though the 35 minutes along the Moesa River was in the shadow of the mountain, and the fabulous St.Anna Church we had come to see was locked. But the wind wasn't too cold, we didn't get caught in the crowds, we startled a deer in the woods, and we had the most amazing experience with a very smart Border Collie dog who trained us to play his favourite game with him! 

Leaving home at 7:15, by train to Bellinzona, then train and bus x2 and we are on our way into the Calanca Valley (a lesser-known valley but one we have visited often) at 9:30 a.m. After crossing that beautiful bridge, the bus heads up the winding road on the right. 

At the final bus stop in the mountain village of Santa Maria (in Calanca), we started on our hike down through the village at 9:40. You can see the winding road in the back which the bus drove up on. 

Down below we can see into the Mesolcina Valley where we are headed (into the shadow part of the valley in the center of the photo), but first we are walking to the next village below here, called Castaneda. 

Some very nice houses here

We took a detour back up to the road first to get this nice view of the Santa Maria church (ca. 15th Century) and the tower of the 13th Century fortress. We didn't head that way this time, as we have visited the church and gone up the tower twice before, most recently at the end of March of 2025 when we did a similar hike starting here (photos HERE). 

Another pretty house. It is amazing that those wooden beams can support the weight of the stone slabs that form the roof. 

Heading down through the alleyways of the town of Santa Maria. In this region there are many such shrines in the towns and along the roadways. 

This is the lovely dog we encountered on our walk down one of the narrow alleyways in Santa Maria. Three times he picked up the ball, dropped it a few centimeters, and returned to his spot next to the house. I thought he was playing a game by himself. 

It took about three rounds of this until I realized he wanted me to throw him the ball, and that he was politely keeping his distance for me to retrieve it. 

When I picked up the ball, he raced up the alleyway to a distance far enough away for me to throw the ball! After retrieving it, he returned it to me for another throw, but never came closer than about 3 meters. 

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The Border Collie has trained me to play his favourite game!

After dropping the ball, he returned to a position where he knew I would throw the ball to!

And when he returned it, he never came closer than about three meters. 

The dog could surely have played all day, but we needed to continue on our hike, heading down through the mountain village of Santa Maria. 

Here we are at the lower part of the village, on the winding road that we came up on by bus. From here it's a short stretch on a forest path to the next village of Castaneda. 

Leaving home at 7:15, we got to Santa Maria at 9:45. Leaving the village then at just after 10 a.m., we got to Roveredo bus stop at 2:30 p.m. From there it was only a 2-hour trip home! Even though this was a long downhill walk, it was not in the least grueling. We had lots of sunshine, maximum temperatures of 8 degrees, and relatively little of the expected cold winds. 

Heading down to the village of Castaneda. Urs has reminded me several times that this village has had (and still has) the longest-running mayor of all of Switzerland. Attilio Savioni became mayor in 1980 and has been going strong now for over 45 years. 

There's our bus now returning back down to valley bottom, to the town of Grono which we are later going to pass through as well. 

Here we are approaching the parish church of St.Stephen, or "Chiesa Parrochiale di Santo Stefano", in the village of Castaneda. We were lucky as this one was not locked. 

It was obvious to us that this church was quite a bit older than most of the Baroque churches we visit. It reminded me of the Romanesque church in Giornico, although it's not quite that old. The parish church of St. Stephen was first mentioned in 1544, later rebuilt, and reconsecrated in 1633. Over the years, a nave and a bell tower were added. 

Again, this wooden ceiling is particularly beautiful. 

The following information is from the Graubünden.ch website: "In the chancel is a painting from 1636, depicting Christ the Redeemer, in its original Renaissance frame. Traces of various 17th-century decorations can still be seen inside." The wall paintings are also pretty attractive. 

The outline of the snow-covered peaks of the Mesolcina Valley. We are actually now in Canton Graubünden, although very near the border with Canton Ticino. 

A look back at the lovely St.Stephen's church as we now continue through the village and on toward the forest trail. 

This was a very nice line of stone houses next to the main road, which we had come up on in the bus. 

A very attractive line of stone houses along the main road in Castaneda. 

In these forests, (usually chestnut and some oak), we often encounter such huge trees. 

As we walked down the forest trail, we surprised a small deer which bounded down the hillside for a short way, but did not disappear. Rather it stood quite still and watched us, thus the good photos!

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We watched the little deer, and it also observed us closely.

At shortly after 11 a.m. we reached a clearing in the forest, which appeared to be the ruins of a former mill, based on the four or five large mill-wheels we observed. (Down below on the left you can see the road into the Calanca Valley where the bus traveled just before it passed over the beautiful bridge). 

Maybe a little too early for lunch, but we took a semi-lunch-break here, at what seems to have once been a mill, based on the 4½ mill wheels on site.  

Continuing along now after descending from the ruins. There was a stream here, thus it could well have been a mill. Note the labouriously-constructed stone walls to create terraces where they might earlier have planted grain. 

This cobble-stone trail was surely once an old mule trail, probably leading out from the narrow Calanca Valley (on our right) into the Mesolcina Valley. 

We then reached the lower town of Grono. According to our map, there were two churches here, so we took detours to both of them. 

Down below at valley bottom, we can see that the trail we want to walk later, on the other side of the Moesa River, is still in shadow at this time of year. Once we got down to the river, we had to decide if the shadow trail would be comfortable enough to walk on.... 

A look past some palm trees into the beautiful Calanca Valley, where we have been many times!

Now we are passing above the first of the two churches in Grono, San Clemente, which apparently was first referenced in 1219 and was intended to be a smaller copy of the Basilica of San Clemente in Rome. 

A side note: I found this rather a cute idea, a terrace with pizza oven built on top of what might be a small garage. 

Unfortunately, this beautiful church was also locked. From Internet information: "Two notable features in the church of San Clemente are the Gothic-style high altar and, also in the choir, two stained-glass windows from 1561", and also "On the west and south facades of the church are two 18th-century sundials. The one to the west indicates Italian time, while the one to the south shows both local and Italian solar time." 

I just really liked the roof on this house. 

What a surprise that we encountered a real orange tree, and the oranges are big and beautiful! We've encountered lemon and lime trees, but this is the first time I have seen an orange tree in Switzerland.

The second church we wanted to look at in Grono was tucked away in a small square in the center of the village, it is called "Chiesa San Rocco e San Sebastiano". It had some very nice frescoes on the western wall, and was actually not locked!  Originally dedicated to Saint Bernardino, the church was a modest chapel presumably built in the early 15th century. In the mid 1600's it was restored and expanded. Behind the altar, the choir is decorated with Baroque stucco dated to 1715. 

Once in a while we encounter some random house wall paintings. 

It is quite a detour to the bridge which crosses the Moesa River, but this trail here is where the former Mesocco railway line ran, a line from Bellinzona to Mesocco which operated between 1907 and 1978 when the upper part was damaged by storm. The rest of the line was discontinued in 2013, and now it serves as a comfortable walking trail. 

Now only a short distance to the Moesa River, which we cross and continue along the base of those mountains ahead. It was about here that I realized I had dropped my visor when I put on my coat due to the cold wind, and I had to make a 10-minute detour to where I had dropped it near the former railway station. 

A look up the Mesolcina Valley as we cross the Moesa River at 12:50. We then had to decide if we were going to walk 45 minutes northwards IN THE SUNSHINE to the village of Leggia where we had ended a similar hike from Santa Maria in March of 2025, or 35 minutes through the shady forest to Roveredo. We chose the latter as it was there that we wanted to visit the forest church of St.Anna (which also was in the shade of the mountain and locked at that).  

Fortunately it was not cold here in the shade of the southern mountain range, and also sheltered from the wind, on a nice footpath along the river. Once in a while we got a view up to the mountain village of Santa Maria, where we had started on this hike. 

Out of the shadows now, we found a perfect spot along the Moesa River for our second "lunch" break at 1:30 p.m. 

Continuing along, we passed by a pasture with these adorable baby donkeys! (There was also a farm with goats and cows). 

Emerging now in the middle of the forest at the entrance of the Traversagna Valley and much, much larger than expected, is the Church of Madonna del Ponte Chiuso, which we had specifically planned this hike for! Unfortunately it was locked. We will need to inquire now as to how and when we can have a look. 

Next to the church is one of two stone bridges, this one over the Traversagna River. One day we will return here when the valley is not in shadow, and when everything is green! 

The Church of Madonna del Ponte Chiuso, or Sant'Anna, was first mentioned in historical documents in 1524. The building was later reconstructed in the 17th century. This is the second stone bridge over the Traversagna River. 

After walking along the Traversagna River into Roveredo, we pass under the former railway bridge. Too bad that there is no longer a railway line into the Mesolcina Valley. 

A little walk through Roveredo on the way to the bus stop, for the 14:42 bus back to Castione, then Bellinzona, and ultimately a 2-hour trip back home. 

From Roveredo, the bus takes us to the train station in Castione. There were several people dressed up and on their way into Bellinzona for the Carnival Festivities. We opted not to watch the parade this time as we have been here twice (see also this POST from March 2019)

What our 11-km walk looks like on Google Satellite Maps

These are all the hikes we have done in the region around the Calanca Valley, and the Riviera Valley between Castione and Biasca. (Bellinzona is just to the south of Castione). 

Heading back home now: As the train travels along Lake Uri toward Brunnen north of the Gotthard, it's looking like the weather here in the North was nice at least part of the day. But it was windy here as well. 

And by the time I got back to the train station at Küssnacht am Rigi at 4:30 p.m., this is what the new snowfall looks like here. Only two days earlier I had done that snow-free and mild early spring hike on this side of the lake!

Location of the Valle Mesolcina and Val Calanca in Canton Graubünden near Bellinzona. 

https://www.srf.ch/sendungen/fasnacht/rabadan-2026-fasnachts-umzug-corteo-mascherato-live-aus-bellinzona-ti