Walking through the Chestnut Forests of the Malcantone

Thursday November 16, 2023 -- On our second day in the southern part of Canton Ticino (photos of DAY 1 are HERE) we weren't quite as lucky with the weather as the first day. We knew that it would be somewhat better in the Lugano area, but the weather was for heavily overcast skies with only a bit of sunshine. Since we had already booked the hotel, we went ahead with our plans anyway.

After a good night and buffet breakfast in a very nice hotel in Locarno (just a couple of minutes from the train station), we left on the 8:35 train toward Lugano to catch a bus into the Malcantone region at the foot of Monte Lema, to walk through the chestnut forests, discovering villages we hadn't been to yet.

When we got to the starting point of our hike in Miglieglia, the clouds were so low and dark, I was afraid it would rain, but that soon cleared up and we had some moments of blue sky and sunshine. This wasn't just a "walk in the park" though, because we went up and down through a couple of ravines. The big disappointment was the large church in Astano which was locked. But we did pass by the site of one of Switzerland's four gold mines (closed to visitors at this time of year). And we saw a real pomegranate tree, a first for us! Our 12-km hike ended at 3 p.m. in the town of Curio from where we had good connections with public transit to get back home in less than four hours.

NOTE: Miglieglia has a wonderful medieval church with fabulous frescoes, perched on a hillside with a vast view over the Malcantone region. We didn't do the detour there this time, as we visited this church on two other occasions. Those photos are also worth viewing --> 2016 and 2017, with additional lovely photos of the Malcantone region. On both of those trips it was also part of a two-day excursion to the area.

The early morning view from my hotel balcony! This is at 7:45 a.m.

Leaving Locarno at 8:30 in the morning, the sun is lighting up the mountains on the west side of Lago Maggiore. But the city of Locarno was still in shadow of Monte Gambarogno.

A short train ride in the direction of Lugano and then we took a bus up a winding road into the Malcantone region. It's a bus ride I love to do! The view is to the north, where the skies are blue. At this point it's looking like it might be a nice day!

(Here's a map of the fun bus ride from the train line in the valley (on the right side) to the upper region called Malcantone)

One of several villages that the bus passes through (Mugena) on the way to the starting point of our hike, which is the village of Miglieglia, from where a cable car connects to the summit of Monte Lema (closed for the winter season). In the direction we are heading (past the village on the left), the clouds were low and dark, although you can't tell on this photo.

We started at 10 a.m. in the village of Miglieglia.

Walking through Miglieglia

This "bush" had small pomegranates growing on it! We had never seen anything like this before.

We started in Miglieglia at 10 a.m, walked to Astano (where the church was locked!), then to the gold mines (Miniera d'Oro) and to Bedigliora, which was a village I was interested to see because we had seen in on a previous hike we did from across the valley a year earlier (those photos are HERE). We caught the bus in Curio at 15:10.

At this time of year, the trails in the Ticino forests are covered in a thick layer of leaves, as the forests are quite dense. This was mostly chestnut leaves and lots of hulls of chestnuts. We didn't see that many chestnuts, which is a surprise, but the locals collect them, and it's late in the season.

Usually sheep run away from us, but this one was eager to come greet us! Urs thinks the sheep were hungry, because there wasn't much grass for grazing here.

Feeding my friend the friendly sheep.

Also a lot of birch trees in the forests here.

I thought we might find many mushrooms to photograph, but this was basically the only one we saw.

Walking here in fall is tricky, as you cannot tell how deep the layer of fallen leaves is, and whether there are rocks or roots beneath it. As long as the trail is level, it's not too bad.

There are always tricky streams to cross

A rare view through the dense trees to one of the villages of Malcantone. This is probably Novaggio, a village we passed through when we spent two days in this area in March 2016 (Those photos are worth looking at HERE)

At exactly 11:30 a.m. we had the first sunny period of the day!

I was surprised to see a butterfly at this time of year!

As we reached the outskirts of Astano, we first saw the tower of the large church on the East side of the village, and were really looking forward to visiting this one.

Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo in Astano. This is actually quite close to the Italian border.

Heading into the village of Astano

The stone walls in this whole region and simply stunning, and the palm trees are always a pleasure. This is a rare moment with blue skies!

Another look at the church tower.

There was a rose in the far distance, and I actually managed a clear shot!

The first historical building we got to in Astano (as per our map, it was marked as a former Monastery called Sant'Antonio Abate) was this unassuming building, which turns out to be a medieval building from the 13th Century which formed the original center of the old village and is under monument protection. It was indeed a former Monastery church for a monastic order called the Humiliati .

Walking through the alleyways of Astano

A very cool door knocker!

That very pretty kitty looks kind of mad or annoyed!

Sitting on the pretty kitty's bench.

We could have ended the hike here and taken this bus!

Heading up to the church called "Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo" (St.Peter and Paul Church). It was unfortunately locked. What a shame. In fact, searching on the Internet reveals almost nothing about this structure. It doesn't seem to be in use much.

There is a nice cemetery, though.

Our next stop of interest are the gold mines. These are one of four gold mines in Switzerland. A recovery project was commenced in 2015 to make the history of gold mining in Switzerland available to the public. Unfortunately, the mine is closed in the winter months.

The entrance to the Sessa gold mines

As it was now 1 p.m. and we hadn't had our picnic lunch yet, this is where we decided to have it, it was a convenient spot.

After the gold mine, we walked down the hill to a small hamlet called Beredino (with a small church we quickly looked into... not all are worth photographing). From here our goal is Bedigliora, 50 minutes from here through a small ravine.

Technically, the trail was closed. (Pass at your own risk). But this was the trail we needed to take, so we followed it to have a look why it was closed. There was construction going on on the main road, and there might have been danger of debris falling into the ravine, so we just passed that area with care, and continued into the ravine.

We had to cross two streams at the bottom of the ravine. This was one crossing.

And this was the other crossing, on a leaf-and-ivy-covered old stone bridge!

And as we headed out of the ravine, we had a look back at the bell tower of the Chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo.

This is a superb view to the summit of Monte Lema (you can also see the summit station of the cable-way, whose base station is in Miglieglia, where we started the walk. I was captivated by those trees in the center. The colouring reminded me of a rainbow!

A closer look at the rainbow trees!

Walking below the village of Bedigliora, we had this view to the east over the village of Sessa (where we had spent a night back in March 2016, those photos are HERE). The lake in the back is Lago Maggiore, but the Italian part.

A close-up look at the village of Sessa with its very large parish church. We visited this church when we spent the night in Sessa on that two-day trip in March 2016.

And a very close-up shot of Lago Maggiore and the mountains in Italy. Far at the back you can just make out the snow-covered Alps

The parish church of San Rocco in Bedigliora. This is the one I had wanted to look at, as I had seen this village from across the valley on another hike in the Malcantone area exactly one year earlier. (HERE), and more specifically (HERE)

The interior of the San Rocco Church in Bedigliora. The church was mostly rebuilt in the 17th Century.

The passage on the right where the cars have to drive through reminds me of the church in Carona, on Monte San Salvatore. Apparently the front door (portal) is from the original gothic construction of the 15th Century, and the fresco above the arches is from the early 16th Century.

Heading down the paved road now to our final destination of a bus stop in Curio, we passed another large church building on a hill (Oratorio di San Salvatore), but we had no time to stop and see if this one was open. This is a shame, but we really wanted to catch the 15:10 bus, and barely had time to make it there. It's a building of Romanesque origins, but completely remodelled in the 17th Century. I had to look it up on the Internet at this PAGE. With our luck, it would have been locked anyway.

This is what our hike looks like on Google Satellite Maps, starting in Miglieglia, walking to Astano near the Italian border, then to the Gold Mine, then Bedigliora and lastly on the road between Novaggio and Curio.

Heading down the mountain now by bus, the villages finally were bathed in sunlight and the colours were beautiful!

This is the town of Magliaso, where we caught the train back to Lugano. We had ended two other hikes here.

All the hikes we have done in the Malcantone region, which is west of the city of Lugano, and in a small triangle of the country surrounded on two sides by Italy.