Via Gottardo Trail from Quinto to Faido via Piottino Gorge

Thursday July 11, 2024 -- This hike wasn't one of my favourites. We had to change plans again because of the changing weather, and thought we would be safe by doing a walk through a gorge. This gorge is in the northern part of the Leventina Valley in Canton Ticino, and doesn't take too long for us to get to, but as it is just a short piece to walk, we included more kilometers of trail on either side of the gorge. 

From the map, this 10-km stretch of the "Strada Bassa" or "Low Road" along the Via Gottardo Trail looked like we would be on some nice forest trails, just perfect for this hot day, but as it turned out, the trail was overgrown and we had to wade through brambles and tall grasses, and several sections were exposed to the hot sun.

But the section through the Piottino Gorge was very pretty, and luckily for us we came across three photographers with long lenses photographing the vertical cliffs, so we stopped to inspect and were treated to a rather rare sight of a wall-creeper bird. (Sadly, my photos did not turn out well, as the bird was far away and moved quickly, the gorge was dark, and photographing with a hand-held camera is difficult in those conditions). 

By noon the skies had become overcast higher in the mountains as predicted, but on our return to north of the Alps, we saw that the weather there had greatly improved. We are starting to think we can't continue to plan our hikes based on weather reports, but will just need to "go for it".... as long as it doesn't rain!

We traveled through the old Gotthard train tunnel via Göschenen and Airolo, and waited here in Piotta for a bus to Quinto (a village on the east side of the valley). This is a look to the Gotthard Pass Road from the south side. There is still a lot of snow in the Gotthard Massif. 

A short bus ride from Piotta to Quinto where we planned to start our hike from slightly outside of the village. There was a church here I wanted to look at, as we had seen it several times when passing through here with the bus. We chose a 10-km route along Trail no.7: Via Gottardo from here to Faido, also called the "Strada Bassa" or "Low Road". We started here at 8:45, and ended in Faido at 1:30 p.m. 

This was the 10.5 km hike we had planned for the day. Our main goal was the Piottino Gorge (right in the center of the hike) but it was a short section, so we just planned a do-able hike along this stretch of the Via Gottardo Trail no.7. Trail no.2 is one we have walked on several times, as it is called the "Strada Alta" (High Trail) here, and always more interesting. We didn't expect that it would be so hot here, even in the valley bottom. 

Heading from above into the village of Quinto we came across these workers hand-finishing the road with these "cobble-stone" bricks! I always find this extremely interesting.

This is the Quinto Church (S.Pietro e Paolo) from the backside. This church was built in 1681 on the site of a Romanesque church mentioned in 1227, probably on the site of an even older church (8th/9th century). Only the bell tower and a few sculptures inserted into the outer walls remain of the Romanesque building.

The highlight of the inside was the painted ceiling. 

Additional details of the inside of the church in Quinto, including a lavish golden altar. 

Front view of the church in Quinto (from the main square where the bus stops), a church we have often passed on the bus on our way down the mountain from our hikes along the High Road. The bell tower is still from the Romanesque period. 

We did a short walk around Quinto, looking at some of the buildings, and the large church from a different angle. 

Also some nice wooden renovated houses here in the village. 

From here the trail crosses from the east side of the valley to the west side, going over the Ticino River. Another look north to the Gotthard Massif. 

Here the path is actually on the other side of this stone wall, but it was so overgrown you couldn't walk there. So I walked on the wall, and Urs walked through the wet grass on this side. 

Crossing the Ticino River, we noticed excavators working in the river, so we watched them for a while. This one was digging a hole beneath the water, and then moving a very large rock into that hole.

VIDEO:

Watching the excavator move large boulders into the river 

to try to reroute the water after heavy rains detroyed the riverbanks.

After having crossed beneath the freeway and the railway line, we headed up into the forest on the west side of the valley. This is a look back at the village of Quinto where we started the hike. (On the far left you can see the track of the Ritom Funicular (one of the steepest funiculars in the world), which would have been a "cooler" choice for the day, but we didn't want to be caught in bad weather while up there.) 

After a 50-minute walk through the forest (on this side it was nicely cleaned up), we arrived in the next village of Fiesso. Here is a cable-way up to Lake Tremorgio, where we have been twice. By now we had walked about 1½ hours, and still had two hours to go till Faido.  

A look down over the roof-tops of Rodi-Fiesso, and into the Piottino Gorge, our main goal of the day. 

Each town and village has at least one church!

A look back up the Leventina Valley

Now we've arrived at the entrance of the gorge. This sign informs us that when they built the freeway in 1977, they had to reroute the Ticino river here through a tunnel! 

The Ticino River was rerouted through a tunnel so that the freeway here could be built (the road also goes through a tunnel). The river enters the gorge here. 

A large volume of water passing through the gorge right now! This was the "coolest" part of the hike, in several ways!

An old stone bridge here, but not accessible as there was restoration work being done. But we were able to continue down the gorge.

VIDEO:

Rushing water through the Piottino Gorge

Up ahead were three people with very large telephoto lenses, and we knew they had to be observing something special! Right away we figured it must be the wall-creeper birds (which we had seen once before many years ago), a rare sight actually. So we stopped here also to observe the bird.

There must be something interesting here on the wall! The lady showed us a video she had taken on her phone attached to the telefoto lens. I wish I could have taken a video like that!

Way up high on the cliff wall we could make out the wall-creeper. He was difficult to photograph with a hand-held camera. 

It was dim lighting in the gorge, the bird was quite a far way up the cliff face and moved quickly, and it is harder to hold the camera still at this distance if you don't use a tripod.

VIDEO:

Wall-Creeper hopping around the vertical cliff-face in the gorge,

collecting bugs or grasses for a nest.

The video shows the bird slightly better than the still photos. 

(My own video viewed with YouTube)

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The freeway is also built in a tunnel through the cliffs here

Looking back to where the bird-watchers are still observing the wall-creeper (there may have been more than one bird). 

Lots of information about the gorge. 

Heading out of the gorge now, it was not a very long section, but nice and cool on this hot day, and always with the sound of the rushing water. 

VIDEO:

Video of the Piottino Gorge (3 minutes)

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The Intercity Train to Lugano is just exiting the tunnel as we come out of the gorge. 

The train heads into another tunnel here

The first train line here was built here between 1871 and 1882, and those massive stone walls were erected for the railway line, and are still holding strong. The freeway came much later (1977). Till recently, the old Gotthard train tunnel was the longest in the world at 15 km, replaced only by the Gotthard Base Tunnel (57 km), completed in 2016.

The Via Gottardo Trail crosses to the east side of the valley again, but this part of the trail has not been cleaned for a long time, and it was rather annoying to walk here. Also, it was in the sunshine and quite hot. 

We had a good view of the freeway and railway line from here, as both enter the tunnels through the Piottino Gorge. We watched for a while as several rapid trains, local trains, and even cargo trains passed through here. 

A close-up look at the railway line

VIDEO:

Cargo Train exiting the tunnel

The meadows were pretty, but we really had to beat our way through the grasses!

A hundred years ago when they built the railway line, they set up platforms like this with information panels about the various construction work, and probably views of the line, which were now totally overgrown. Well, maybe the platforms weren't quite 100 years old, but they sure seemed like it. It was almost scary to walk on them, and the placards were pretty sun-bleached. 

A look back up the Leventina Valley.

The meadows were pretty. 

FINALLY we reached a wonderful waterfall where we could cool off!

Another look up the Leventina Valley before the final descent to Faido.

There were hundreds of the black butterflies surrounding us, but they rarely sat still long enough to be photographed. It's actually a moth, though. The nine-spotted moth. 

At this point near the end of the stretch, we realized that the trail we were one was also a themed trail called "Ferrovia del Gottardo", or "Gotthard Railway Trail", which makes sense, especially because of the information platforms!

We reached the train station in Faido at 1:30 p.m. (The actual town is further south, and we had considered the option of walking there to see the huge waterfalls, but we were tired and wanted to go home.) Across from the station are these buildings, a funny yellow one and an old abandoned hotel. There is another such abandoned building to the left as well. 

Passing the village of Quinto one more time on the way north toward the Gotthard Tunnel by train. 

All the hikes we have done in the region of the northern Leventina Valley. The pink trail from Quinto to Faido station is the one we did this day. 

Location of the Upper Leventina Valley in Switzerland.