From the Vergeletto Valley to the Onsernone Valley (Ticino)

Wednesday April 14th, 2021 -- When Urs was about 16 years old, he spent six months with a farming family in the Onsernone Valley in Canton Ticino, providing hard labour in exchange for learning Italian.... He loved his time with the family, and spent a lot of time in the remote and less-known Val Vergeletto, cutting grass for hay among other things.

The last time we were there was almost eight years ago, so it was time to visit again. Before the Gotthard base tunnel was completed in 2016, it took us almost five hours to get there; now we can be there in three hours, so it is a much more interesting destination for us.

The Onsernone Valley in itself is more than worth a visit, with its narrow road consisting of over 300 curves over 28 km, completed in 1900. (The bus ride to the final station at Spruga takes 75 minutes from Locarno). About two-thirds of the way along this road, in the town of Russo, you change to a very small van that takes you up the even narrower Vergeletto Valley, with more narrow hairpin turns... 

We were a little worried as we headed into the Onsernone Valley as the bus was packed full, but most people descended earlier along the way, and we were the only passengers to change to the van! We started in the mountain village of Gresso, and from there we walked down to Vergeletto, then followed an old mule trail, then ascended 30 minutes to the mountain community of Quiello, and ended with a rather difficult mountain hike along a narrow, leaf-covered and partly frozen trail high above the valley, exiting back at Russo in the Onsernone Valley.

What should have been a 3-hour hike took us 5.5 hours, because we spent so much time at the back of the valley, and had to go carefully along the mountain trail. As usual, there are so many interesting things to look at and to learn about. And the biggest highlight was the sighting of at least six beautiful green-and-blue emerald lizards, all in the same garden! You don't see those often, and we saw so many!

After arriving in Locarno with the train, there are several options for heading into the various side valleys by bus or train. The bus into the Onsernone Valley heads through this town of Intragna, which lies at the junction of the Centovalli and Onsernone Valley. Intragna has the highest church tower in all of Canton Ticino

Heading into the wild and very steep Onsernone Valley. This is a look backwards to the other valley, Centovalli (the snow-covered mountains).

Ahead of us are the first villages in the Onsernone Valley. The road winds along the steep hillside, sometimes with barely enough room for the bus to get through the villages (often, other cars have to go backwards to make room). The Vergeletto Valley branches off approximately at the arrow.

After switching from the larger bus to the small van in Russo (we were the only passengers) we made our way up the Vergeletto Valley. The village on the hillside ahead is called Gresso (accessed on a narrow road with many hair-pin turns, taken way too quickly by our experienced driver) and we decided to start our hike there. The valley bends to the left there.

Our transport from Russo up the Vergeletto Valley to Gresso. We got here at 11:15

A nice view back down the valley. From here we are walking down to the town of Vergeletto to our right (West), and then returning to walk approximately where the red line is, ending back at Russo in the Onsernone Valley

We spent over half an hour wandering around this little mountain village of Gresso, before heading down to Vergeletto.

Lots of very interesting balconies to admire in the little town of Gresso

It was colder than I'd expected, and my pants were too thin. But later in the day it was more comfortable. We are also at a higher altitude than back in Locarno, where everything was so very green already. Here it's still brown...

On this map you can see the splendid road they had to build in order to access the two villages of Gresso and Vergeletto. Our experienced driver took the turns with vigor, and I was glad to get to our destination! From Gresso we walked 30 minutes to Vergeletto, then along the old mule trail back to the road, then a steep ascent to Quiello before heading out of the valley. 

A late second breakfast at noon as we leave Gresso. Our late lunch will be later, after we have climbed to the mountain community of Quiello

Heading along the pretty forest trail to Vergeletto

Below us is the community of Vergeletto

It was in this garden where all kinds of Emerald Lizards scattered out from underfoot! Most disappeared quickly under rocks and inside pipes

One beautiful lizard let himself be photographed!

Seeing these beautiful but generally rare lizards was the highlight of the day

In the 17th and 18th Century there were 27 registered mills in the Onsernone Valley. Today there are only two in operation, this one in Vergeletto being one of the two (When we got back to Russo, we purchased corn meal made here at the mill).

From Vergeletto we headed down to the Ribo river to cross on the old Roman bridge

The next 1.5 kilometers were along this easy paved mule trail

We pass a lot of ruins when we walk in the Ticino mountains. This was a particularly large edifice at one time.

On our descent back to the road, we get a glimpse of the road to Gresso to the North . (One benefit of walking here in "winter" is that you get some views through the bare trees. In summer, the thick foliage blocks any views at all!)

Crossing the Ribo River again back to the main road. From here, we have a 30-minute steep ascent to the mountain settlement called Quiello, where we are looking forward to lunch time!

Typical clear aquamarine waters of the Ticino. See our shadows below?

The steep mountain trails here are often laid out with such steps, which actually makes the ascent go quickly.

At 2 p.m. we finally arrived up here at Quiello, looking forward to our picnic lunch!

Another view down the Vergeletto Valley toward the Onsernone Valley. After lunch, we headed out the valley along the mountainside on the left, which turned out to be more tricky than we expected.

The view from where we sat on a rock to have lunch. On the right is Gresso where we started, and in the back at the bottom is Vergeletto.

Heading back out on a real mountain trail. This is the kind of hiking we like to do, but it can be quite challenging!

All kinds of surprising obstacles to navigate!

The trail was narrow, the drop was steep, and there were lots of leaves on the trail, sometimes with ice underneath, so we had to tread carefully!

This is the only trail on this side of the valley so normally it's a "regular", though not often traveled route, but the winter leaves make it difficult to navigate.

There were still more winter leaves on the trail than we expected, so we had to go slowly, testing each step as we didn't know what was beneath the leaf cover. 

At this point we were just above the spectacular "Ponte Oscura", a unique and marvelous bridge at the junction of the Onsernone and Vergeletto Valleys. 

Posing for a picture along the trail to Russo, about 250m above the Ponte Oscura Bridge and the road into the Vergeletto Valley

And one final look back up into the valley. It's hard to believe that there is a trail on this mountain flank we just crossed (on the right side).

As we emerge into the Onsernone Valley, we get a look at the village of Crana, which is the next one along the road toward the back of that valley. The larger bus also winds along hairpin turns to get up there.

Descending through the village of Russo, where we have decided to end our hike and wait for the bus. (They only run every two hours, and there was no time to make it to the next village, which we had originally planned to get to).

Under the best conditions, this hike should only take three hours, but it was definitely longer because of the difficult mountain trail. Our total time is more anyway, because we enjoy the surroundings! Starting in Gresso at 11:15, we got to the main road in Russo at 16:15 (next bus at 16:45)

We have often eaten here at the restaurant in Russo. With COVID, the owner has cleverly managed to sell bottled drinks and various take-away meals from his covered terrace. There were many mountain-bikers here who appreciated the service! We bought some locally-milled Polenta from the restaurant owner. This is cornmeal from the mill in Vergeletto. 

The town of Russo along the road in the Onsernone Valley is a favourite of ours. We have been here several times.

Clouds have covered the skies here and it got cold, so we were glad to get on the bus back to Locarno. The bus driver was just whipping along the curvy road... they are pretty experienced but sometimes crossing with oncoming cars is difficult. At one point we heard a loud scrape along a building on the driver's side, as we squeezed by a rather expensive-looking car on our right!

Heading by bus back to Locarno on Lago Maggiore. Here at the much lower elevations, it is greener and milder, but there are also more people! We were almost alone again in the Vergeletto Valley!

The last time we were in the Vergeletto Valley was in 2013, and then only to take the cable car up to Alpe Salei, from where we descended into the Onsernone Valley. This time we spent the whole day in the Vergeletto Valley. For Urs, it was a time to reminisce. 

Location of the Vergeletto Valley, off the Onsernone Valley right near the Italian border.