High Trail in the Leventina Valley from Sobrio to Calonico

Wednesday November 22, 2023 -- At first we said last week was the last time this year we would travel to Canton Ticino, but as long as there is better weather south of the Alps, it's worth going there for even just a few hours of sunshine.

This time we stayed in the mountains of the Leventina Valley, not far south of the Gotthard Massif. There is a themed trail called the Strada Alta Leventina (Leventina High Trail) along the entire mountainside between Airolo and Biasca, and we have walked there many times, but not this late in the year. We did a short piece this time, just 11 km between Sobrio and Calonico, walking northward this time. We did manage four hours of mostly sunshine, but there was a cold north wind blowing, which was uncomfortable at times.

The hike consisted of the standard visit of old Romanesque churches with frescoes, of mountain trails through chestnut forests with a deep layer of leaves on the trail (and sometimes the going wasn't easy), interspersed with small villages with lovely houses, most of them with more of a Valser flair instead of the typical stone rustici we usually encounter in the southern part of the Ticino.

[As a comparison, here are the photos from the other times we covered this particular stretch of the "Strada Alta Leventina" --> October 2018 (Rossura to Cavagnago) and May 2020 (Cavagnago to Pollegio)]

The excursion starts with another fun bus ride from the Lavorgo train station along a winding road with such narrow switchback turns that even our small bus had to do a two-point turn at every hairpin curve! 

Before heading south to our starting point of Sobrio, the bus takes a detour through the village of Calonico, which is where we ended our hike here, having visited that small church as our last point of interest (San Martino = St. Martin's church). 

We are heading up the east side of the Leventina valley with a view to the village of Chironico across the valley to the west (a village we visited twice in the past and which we looked down on for most of this hike)

And just shortly before we reach Sobrio (end of the bus line), a view of St. Lorenzo church which we passed as we started walking north (it was locked just like last time, unfortunately). 

Sobrio is nicknamed the "Villagio della Musica", or the "Village of Music" where each of the 50 or so houses is labeled with the name of a composer of classical or baroque music. It's kind of fun walking through the village and finding the names of all the composers. 

Also at the main square is the small "Oratorio di San Rocco" from 1643. 

Here are a couple of the "Case Musici":  Sostakovič is the top one, Vivaldi is the bottom one!

These two are Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré (I'm not familiar with those). 

Casa Mendelssohn is for sale!

This pretty one sports the name Bedřich Smetana (apparently regarded as the father of Czech music). 

Starting in Sobrio at 10:30 and catching the bus in Calonico at 3 p.m, we managed an 11-km hike with about four hours of mostly sunshine. 

Heading North now along the "Strada Alta Leventina" in the hopes that the first church, Chiesa di San Lorenzo is open, which it was not. 

The north wind was so strong and cold at the start of this hike, that we almost considered taking the bus back down the mountain and heading to Bellinzona, but we stuck with it, thankfully. 

Each of the historical buildings along the trail has a panel describing its history. The parish church of San Lorenzo is a romanesque building, consecrated in the year 1360 although first mentioned in documents of the 13th Century. As with many such buildings, a lot of changes took place over the centuries; this one received substantial additions in the 16th Century. 

Well, at least we could admire the cemetery. Those are always pretty. And the backdrop of snow-covered mountains as well. 

Just above the trail and San Lorenzo church is a small hamlet called Ronzano, with a small chapel as well. We didn't take the detour this time, as we had seen this last time we were here: May 2020 .

A look behind us down the Leventina Valley. There would have been fewer clouds in Bellinzona, but we really wanted to do this mountain hike. 

A forested section between Sobrio and the next community called Cavagnago, which was a welcome reprieve from the wind. 

Crossing one of several streams

The air was clear and crisp and we could see a lot of detail in the snow-covered peaks 

This homestead along the way is called Fòusc, a very pretty property

I could live here.... 

Higher above us, a section of the forest was comprised of larches, flaming yellow at this time of year (the photo doesn't do it justice, the colours were much more golden). 

Approaching the next community of Cavagnago

I remember this from last time!

We are on the Strada Alta trail. The colours of the larches in the background are more realistic in this photo. 

Cavagnago is the village where we started our hike back in 2020, when we walked south TOWARD Sobrio and on down to the valley bottom at Pollegio

The half-stone and half-wood houses are quite pretty. 

A reminder that we are in Switzerland

The eight-sided fountain featured in my previous album as well!

The parish church of Saint Anna in Cavagnago. We went inside again, and there were still as many spider webs on the windows as last time!

The interior of Saint Anna church in Cavagnago. The original construction is from the 15th Century but it was converted to baroque style probably in the 18th Century. 

Some more details inside the church. It was the four silver bishop busts which impressed me last time, and this time as well. There was one wall with some nice frescoes. The church was "refreshed" in the 1930's, and restored more recently in 1982-84. 

Another pretty house. 

From here on we had views of the small plateau across the valley, with the community of Chironico. 

Shortly after leaving Cavagnago, we came to the highlight of this section of trail: Oratoria di Sant'Ambrogio. (Detour off the trail for a photo from above). The oldest part of this building is from the 13th Century. 

The building had frescoes both outside and inside. This building is always open for viewing. 

The frescoes and altar are from the 15th Century. Restored in 1931. 

Continuing on northwards up the Leventina Valley to the next town called Anzonico. Below the road is another church building which we saw when we passed by bus. We decided we'd make a detour that way, as it's not along the actual trail. 

A zoomed view of the parish church called Chiesa di San Giovanni Batista (St.John the Baptist) which we detoured to after reaching Anzonico. 

Another look across the valley at Chironico, which still has sunshine, although the shadows are creeping closer!

Across the valley just outside of Chironico is another romanesque church building which we visited in 2015 and 2016. The original section of this church is from 1219, but the semi-circular choir was added in the 16th Century. Another fabulous building. Mostly it's the bell towers which remain from the original constructions. 

What a desirable location for a home! No one to build in front of you and block the view. Way down below is the main highway from the Gotthard tunnel down to the Italian border. We could barely hear the traffic. 

At this point we are about 500 meters above the freeway, and 600 meters above the Ticino River. 

Arriving in Anzonico. Last time we were here (in 2018) we had a snack break on a bench in front of this church, and since it was now 12:30, we decided to use this as our lunch spot again!

Enjoying our picnic lunch in the sunshine in front of the "Oratorio di Sant'Antonio di Padova" in Anzonico. 

The church was originally built in 1678-84 and added on to in 1832. Restored in 1972 and 2003. The interior was kind of garish and not to our taste, so I didn't take any photos.  

From Anzonico we took a detour along the road to the this much more attractive church, the actual parish church of San Giovanni Battista, which unfortunately was again locked!!! The information panel states that the original parish church consecrated in 1404 got swept away by an avalanche in January of 1667. This "new" church was then built in 1670, in a somewhat different location from the original. 

The north side of the parish church of San Giovanni Battista in Anzonico, built in 1670. The church was unfortunately locked. 

Some of these gravestones are very old. On the first one there is no date of birth mentioned, only that the person (Gabriele Rosselli) passed away at the age of 90 in 1929, and his wife Margherita passed away the same year at the age of 85. 

Heading back along the road into Anzonico. Further up the valley there is still a lot of sunshine on the further villages of the "Strada Alta"

Another look at the church where we sat on the bench and had our picnic lunch. 

Heading out of Anzonico along the main road (we didn't walk the alleys on this one). 

The "Strada Alta" is also a section of National Trail no.2: "Trans Swiss Trail". We came from Sobrio, and our goal is Calonico, supposedly 40 minutes from here, but it took longer, as we had to descend more than was marked on the map. 

From Anzonico to Calonico was mostly through the forest. 

In many parts of Canton Ticino there were very destructive storms and many of the mountain trails are currently off limits. Here on this section of the trail we passed a lot of storm damage as well, but as it's part of the popular "Strada Alta" trail, this is where they would start with the clean-up. 

Our trail crossed the road here (and the lower section of forest was a bit difficult to navigate, with a thick layer of fallen leaves on the rocky path). The trees felled by the storms caused quite some damage to this railing as well! 

Just before Calonico is a large grove of chestnut trees (Prato Bello) which are still maintained and harvested. This was a real pleasure to walk through last time, when it was still lush and green!

What we had noticed last time was that the trees were all numbered. We figured that each tree belongs to a family who can harvest the chestnuts from it! (Might have worked that way in earlier times). 

This is one massive chestnut tree!

Last time we passed through here, we did not take a detour to this church, but passed directly through the village of Calonico slightly to the east. This time we had planned to go visit it, so we took the road west of the village. The church is called San Martino.

Even way up here the cows are watching us!

Heading up to the parish church of San Martino in Calonico. The church was mentioned in documents of the 13th Century, but the only remaining part of the original medieval building is the romanesque bell tower. 

We found out later that this building is not always open, and that there are people you have to contact to let you in. But we were lucky on this one, and the door was unlocked. The fresco above the entrance is St. Martin sharing his cloak with a beggar. 

There were some frescoes on this ceiling arch, but they are possibly not as old as many others we have seen. The rest of the inside was fairly "modern", although quite pretty. 

Details of the Calonico parish church San Martino.

The church is perched on a cliff high above the Leventina Valley. This is the view up the valley from the church grounds. Our original plan had been to walk down this hillside to the village in the center of the photo, another hour and 3.5 kilometers from here, but because the whole hillside is already in the shadow of the western mountains (2:30 p.m.) and the trail so full of fallen leaves, we decided to wait up here for the 3 p.m. bus (the small bus runs only every couple of hours up here). 

We were actually quite lucky that we were able to keep ahead of the rapidly increasing shadow of the mountains. 

Heading now to the village of Calonico before we lose the afternoon sunshine. 

The church is built on an impressive cliff above the Leventina Valley. There used to be a fortress here before the church was built. 

This historical building in Calonico was built in 1684. The Leventina Valley was an important trade route from Milan to northern Europe via the Gotthard Pass. This style of architecture is unusual for this region and reflects the influence of the Valser peoples of Canton Uri to the north of the Gotthard range, as they controlled a large part of the trade route here. This building has been converted into a vacation home available to rent, through a project called "Vacationong in a Historical Monument". 

Waiting for the bus at the main square of Calonico, we can see the church between the buildings. The shadow of the mountain reached the church shortly after we left it. 

Interesting lighting: St. Martin's church is in shadow, but the village not yet. 

Waiting for the 3 p.m. bus at the main square in Calonico, in the final rays of sunshine for the day (here anyway.....)

Across the valley and further south, a small grove of larches high up on the mountainside is still lit by the setting sun. 

Heading back down the winding road with the tight switchbacks to the train station in Lavorgo. From the train station it took 2½ hours to get home from here.  

What our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps. We started in Sobrio and headed north to Calonico.

All the hikes we have done in the region of the Leventina and Blenio Valleys. The Leventina High Trail stretches from Airolo just south of the Gotthard Pass to the city of Biasca which is at the junction of the two valleys. We have walked the entire High Trail except for the last section into the city of Biasca, because that wasn't so interesting for us. 

Location of the Leventina Valley in Switzerland, in particular the section we walked this day. 

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