High above Lake Poschiavo on the Old Mule Trail (Austria to Italy)

Friday August 7 -- As we had discovered the day before, it was too late to make reservations on the mini-buses that were heading up into Val Camp in the two days we were here, so we moved our plans for San Romerio to Friday, and made totally new plans for Saturday.

From our B&B in Campascio to the train station at Brusio is a 5-minute train ride, and from Brusio, a mini-bus makes scheduled runs to the village of Viano high above the valley bottom. Viano, as well as the ancient church of San Romerio, lie on the old mule trail called Via Veltellina, an important trade route between Austria and the Veltlin in Italy during the middle ages . Most people who take the bus up to Viano will continue southwards along the trail to Tirano in Italy, or make the 2.5-hour hike to the church to the North. An insider secret, which is not really well-published yet, is that for an extra 10 SFr. per person, the mini-bus will take you another 20 minutes along narrow switchbach roads (some requiring 4x4) to a parking lot which is within about 30 minutes walk to the little church! All other six passengers descended in Viano, and we got a private ride for the final amazing stretch!

The quaint little church of San Romerio has been in this location, 800m above the valley floor, since mid-11th Century, although additional main parts of the church were added on in the 15th Century, as was often the case. The church perches right on the edge of the cliff, has an unexpected very worn set of stone steps into a small underground crypt (very dark!) and a side-room which serves as an ossuary, another surprise for us.

Additional to the chapel, there were buildings that served as monastery and accommodations for nuns and monks, which have since been converted by the private owners into a lovely mountain hostel, where we paused for something cool to drink before continuing on our total 4-hour hike high above the valley, mostly through pleasant forests on an easy trail (perfect for this hot day), following the Via Valtellina, with the intention of walking all the way to the city of Poschiavo. It was too hot once we left the protection of the forest, so we cut the hike short at Le Prese next to the lake, before returning to our B&B. Even then, it was a 12-kilometer hike.

Oh, and Urs was particularly pleased that we finally got to do this excursion. It has been a wish of his since our host at Casa Lucini told us about the church several years ago, as he is a Post-Bus driver and does the bus run....

On our way past Lake Poschiavo on the day before, we had seen the
church high up on the edge of the cliff. A fascination for years, this was the goal of today's hike.

From Brusio (below), a van-bus takes us up a narrow winding road to the town of Viano, which is a popular starting point for hikes along the Via Valtellina

In Viano, the trail markers show that it is about 2 hours 30 minutes to walk either way along the Via Valtellina (Trail no.30), whether to Tirano, Italy to the South, or to San Romerio to the North.

The other 6 passengers disembarked in Viano, and the Post-Bus continued even higher along more winding roads, for another 20 minutes. It was a great ride, and just for us!

The bus goes as far as the parking lot at Piaz, which brings us to within 1.5 km or 30 minutes walk to the Church at the Romerio Alp.

From San Romerio we had a pleasant walk through the forest, which is actually a 236 hectare forest reserve, which will be left "to its own devices" till 2060. We had planned to continue northwards to the town of Poschiavo, to complete that section of the Via Valtellina Trail, but decided to end in Le Prese, because it had gotten quite warm.

Heading along the road toward San Romerio

A look South down the Poschiavo Valley. Campascio, where we stayed at the B&B, is only 2 km from the Italian border. Viano is where the other six hikers got off the bus.

Zoomed view of Viano

Walking along the mountain road toward San Romerio

First view of San Romerio

The church is first mentioned in documents dating from mid 11th Century. The tower and chancel were added in the 15th Century

You can view the church, but you have to get the key from the owner of the hostel

Entering the church and descending the dark, narrow and very worn-out stone steps into the crypt.

I opened the little window in the crypt and this is the view you get. It makes the knees weak!

The chancel with the altar is "newer", the rest is about 1000 years old. So hard to imagine!

Peeking through some wooden slats into a side room I am surprised to see that this serves as a type of ossuary!

View down to Lake Poschiavo 800m below

The rest of the buildings which used to be monastery have been privately owned since 1829. The family has made lots of improvements, and this is a popular place to spend the night when hiking the Via Valtellina.

Mid-Morning Panaché, it's already quite warm out!

These stone cellars took four years to build as the stones had to be collected from all over the mountainside. The Hostel keeps all their vegetables and refreshments in these "coolers"

Time to continue on along the old mule trail. This view is South down the Poschiavo Valley. We are not sure why this important trade route passed so high above the valley bottom, but we figure that centuries ago, when there were no paved roads, that the valley bottoms where rivers flowed tended to be marshy and difficult to pass with mule trains.

On this hot day it is actually pleasant to walk through the cool forest

Lots of lush vegetation and streams to cross

VIDEO:

Waterfall

These are larch forests and the ants have built MASSIVE ant hills with the larch needles

VIDEO:

Ant Hill

The trail was easy and pleasant to walk

At this spot we found a bench in the cool shade of some trees. The city of Poschiavo was still 90 minutes North of here, and as soon as we came into open country, it grew hot. So we decided to end our hike below, in the town of Le Prese, with a walk along the tree-lined lanes near the lake. Even this last stretch took 60 minutes