190 Million Years of Earth History in the Breggia Gorge

(This post made on January 24, 2025)

Saturday February 20, 2016 – Spring is taking a long time coming this year, and in the Ticino you can usually find milder weather. (Except just two weeks after we came to this place, it snowed here as well).

The main goal of this trip was to visit the National Park in the Breggia Gorge, of special interest for its geological and paleontological heritage: Thanks to the river's natural excavation process, rocks from geological periods across several hundreds of millions of years have been exposed. The thought of how old this is truly breathtaking. 

Additionally, the first part of the hike, starting in Mendrisio was through the vineyards of this southern part of Switzerland, passing through Castel San Pietro before we descended into the gorge. The section through the vineyards was along a trail called “Man and Grapevine” with information about the wine industry. 

We ended the hike in Balerna, at the south end of the gorge.

We always pass this castle (Castello Grande) on our way to the Italian Border. The lighting was pretty this morning (10 a.m.)

As the train heads south to the Ceneri Pass, this view is to the west to the mountains on the west side of Lago Maggiore. 

Starting in Mendrisio at 11:00, we followed Trail no.52 "Sentiero Lago di Lugano" (Lake Lugano Trail) to Castel San Pietro.  

We started our hike at about 11:00 a.m. in Mendrisio, walking through the vineyards to Castel San Pietro, where we first went to look at the "Pink Chapel", and then descended into the the Breggia Gorge. We got to the train station in Balerna at about 3:30 p.m. 

Walking through the vineyards of the Ticino, Switzerland. This is near the start of our walk in Mendrisio.

Heading up the hill, we get this fantastic view north to the summit of Monte San Salvatore (with the communication tower on the left), and the mountains near the Magadino plain. 

Walking through the vineyards of the Ticino, Switzerland. Placards give information about the production of grapes and wine in this region. There are 3800 growers managing 1000 hectares of vineyards in the Ticino, Switzerland

Clay tile roofs and palm trees are typical of this region!

It's always fun watching the cats in the villages and the meadows!

Heading through an old part of a village called Corteglia. 

More vineyards around Corteglia. The view is toward the Muggio Valley, where we are headed. 

A row of old houses. 

Decorations on the wall of the Swiss Winery in Corteglia called the Parravicini Vitivinicoltori. The motto is "Fruit of life and the labour of man".  

Having a peek into the village church. We were here at shortly after noon. 

Just before reaching the center of Castel San Pietro, we passed the gates of the cemetery. 

A sign indicates that we are close to the "Park of the Breggia Gorges". 

First a quick walk around Castel San Pietro, to the village church of course.  

This is the "Chiesa di Sant Eusebio" in Castel San Pietro. 

We sat on the church's wall for our picnic lunch at about 12:30, with this view over the southern part of Switzerland, near the border with Italy. The mountains in the back are in Italy. 

An interesting-looking chimney!

Higher up on the mountain above the town of Castel San Pietro stands another large church called "Chiesa Sant'Antonino"

At the junction of the path to the Chiesa Rossa (no photos?) and the other trail into the gorge, we saw this interesting line of houses with olive trees. 

Some interesting, and surely very old, olive trees.

At 1:30 p.m. we reach the junction that leads us down into the Breggia Gorge. 

A bridge along the trail heading into the Breggia Gorge. 

Now we have reached the Breggia River. The bridge is called Punt da Canaa.

Placards along the way inform about the history of the rock in the Breggia Gorge. In the description, it tells us that this is the oldest part of the park. The rock is called Moltrasio Limestone, is 4000 m thick and basically constitutes the entire Monte Generoso massif.  

This is the oldest part of the park. This rock is called Moltrasio Limestone and is 195 million years old (about 4000m thick on the Earth's crust, of which we can observe the top 100 meters here).

Balancing on the edge is an erratic rock, totally different than the other older layers. A fault in the limestone is also visible here. 

(The Director of the Breggia National Park had inquired to use one of my photos in a flyer they were putting together. See at the end of this album).

This is the site of an old mill

More interesting striations. This rock is called Lombardian Ammonitico Rosso, and according to a nearby placard, the deposit is 15 m thick, and apparently the most interesting rock formation in the park.   

A cool wooden bridge crosses the gorge high above the river. 

Wooden bridge crosses the gorge. 

From the bridge we can see the trail we have to descend, a cool set of steps!

At this junction, one trail heads back out of the gorge to Castel San Pietro. We are continuing on to the train station in Balerna, 45 minutes from here. At this point it is 2:20 p.m. 

An interesting section through the gorge.

An interesting section through the gorge.

20 minutes later we came across another very interesting rock striation: A tectonic fold, directly related to the formation of the Alps. 

The road and trail passed right "through" that house!

Just before leaving the gorge, we come to the old Ghitello Mill, with this cute waterwheel. The old mill buildings here are from the end of the 16th Century, and are used for demonstrations as well as housing administration offices for the Breggia Gorge Park. 

Arriving at the Balerna train station at 15:25. 

9-km walk from Mendrisio to Balerna via Castel San Pietro and the Breggia Gorge National Park (in Ticino, Switzerland).

This is a screenshot of a section of the flyer put together by the Director of the National Park. He had requested to use one of my photos, which is the one on the bottom right. 

A flyer about the Breggia Gorges uses one of my photos, bottom right.