An Easy Hike in the Valle Capriasca near Lugano

Sunday March 14, 2021 -- With cold weather, lots of snow and no sunshine in most of the country, our go-to place for a sunny hike was, once again, in Canton Ticino, fairly South, to the area around Lugano (It takes us only 90 minutes to get to Lugano by train!).

We knew there would be a cold wind blowing, and as long as the sun was shining, it was fine. But it WAS cold!

Nevertheless, we still managed a 12-km hike, starting at Roveredo (at the entrance to Val Colla) and walking into and out of the Capriasca Valley toward Tesserete. We have done several hikes in this area (usually in winter, it seems), and this was just a walk in the forest with visits of various villages. We didn't go up to the pass (Gola di Lago) at the back of the valley, having crossed there twice before, but turned back down the valley shortly before the pass, and continued at that point along National Trail no.7: VIA GOTTARDO.

Highlights were the sighting of a HUGE beetle (about 3 cm) -- an oil beetle it turns out -- and probably a female getting ready to lay eggs. We found out later that the oil secreted by these beetles is poisonous and was used by ancient Greeks to administer the death sentence.

And the other main highlight was the colours! Flowers are blooming now: Magnolias, Forsythias, Rhododendrons, Japanese Cherries, Daffodils, Crocuses, Snowbells, Violets and more! And a breath of green in the otherwise brown branches. Spring is slow in coming this year, with so much cold weather and snow, so these flowers and leaves are a promise of things to come. 

Some of the many flowers and colours we saw!

(Here are photos from a hike we did two years ago in the same valley, but higher up: CLICK HERE)

(And another walk around the Capriasca region a year earlier, where I discovered the valuable painting of "The Last Supper":  CLICK HERE)

 

Heading up by bus from Tesserete to our starting point of Roveredo, we pass this iconic villa with the most fantastic blossoming tree in its yard. Besides the palm trees, which are also beautiful.

Before heading into the Valle Capriasca, we admired the view from the church terrace in Roveredo. This view is South to Lake Lugano and Monte San Salvatore.

Lots of nice forest trails. In this region, we get a better view of the countryside in winter, because the foliage is so thick in summer, that it blocks any views.

On the way into the valley, we alternate between forest and open clearings, which usually contain a few stone houses.

We were very lucky actually. At the start of the trail we had come across a sign that until March 12th (two days earlier), this trail had actually been closed in order to repair this particular bridge. 

It was actually quite windy. In the sun OK, but when the clouds covered the sun, it was very cold!

Every once in a while we run across a pretty house like this one.

The goats were roaming free. This baby had a silky soft coat. It probably smells cheese on Urs' hands because we had our picnic lunch just shortly before this

Higher on the hill on the left is a small cluster of houses. It was at that altitude that we walked here in December 2018 

And this big billy goat was all by himself in the middle of the unfenced meadow!

These are some large horns to carry around. I believe this is a special type of goat from this region, called a "Nera Verzasca" (a black goat from the Verzasca Valley)

A view toward Lago di Lugano from the back of the Capriasca Valley

Above us the flanks of Monte Bar have a new dusting of snow

Such little clusters of houses dot the hillside. We seek these out, even if we can only reach them on "unofficial" trails

One very short "exciting" piece, where we had to watch for falling rock

The furthest up the valley we went is called Luera. From here we turned back and headed South along the valley bottom.

This little chapel would have made a nice place for a coffee break, but it was too windy cold here. 

The pass into the next valley to the North is only 10 minutes from here (Gola di Lago). But we crossed that pass twice already, so we are headed down to Tesserete along National Trail no.7: Via Gottardo

Local farmers have a cheese and sausage stand at a strategic spot in the road down the valley. We bought some salami here.

Neat little trail near the river

We discovered these two beetles along the trail. They are called oil beetles, and the one on the left is probably a female getting ready to lay eggs. The oil these beetles secrete is poisonous.

As we get lower down the valley, there are more and more flowers blooming! This is a type of magnolia.

In the village called Lelgio, this farmer just barely made it through the narrow road with his hay bales (further on it got even narrower, he had only a couple of centimeters to spare on each side)

And here is a whole hill full of primroses

A short climb and we got to the little chapel in the next village called Odogno

Heading through Odogno

Just before our descent into Tesserete is another small village called Campestro

From here a superb view of the "Denti della Vecchia" (= "Old Woman's Teeth") mountain range, which we have also crossed a few years ago.

Passing by the interesting villa which we passed on the way up in the bus (the one with the fantastic blossoming tree). In the back again are the "Denti della Vecchia"

Another view of the fabulous blossoming tree and the massive palm trees.

Some newly-opened Japanese Cherry blossoms

The church in Tesserete (here we got back on the bus to return to Lugano). Unfortunately, the magnolia buds were not yet quite open.

At the bus station in Tesserete, another look at the "Denti della Vecchia".

Another 12-km hike of about four hours. We started in Roveredo, and walked in and out of the Capriasca Valley back to Tesserete.

Lovely afternoon sunshine in Lugano, before we got on the train for the 90-minute ride home. 

We have done lots of hiking in this region near Lugano (called the Capriasca) including two crossings of the Gola di Lago Pass. (The bright blue-green one is the one we did today).

The hike was in the very far South of Switzerland near Lugano. It takes only 90 minutes to get from Zug to Lugano, because of the Gotthard Base Tunnel.

Wandering through the Villages of the Capriasca Region of Ticino

Saturday November 18, 2017 -- Sometimes a hike consists of a leisurely 10 km walk in an area of closely-spaced villages with poetic Italian names, admiring the local architecture, peeking into every community church to discover the artistic treasures there, and enjoying a meal of Piccata al Marsala and Risotto Milanese in the local Trattoria where you get personal service because you are the only visitors off-season on a work day.... 

And most often we find something interesting along the way, which in this case consisted of artwork in two churches in particular. The beautiful Church of Santo Stefano in Tesserete, which is over 1000 years old, contains ancient and peeling frescoes, one of which depicts a baby Jesus with six fingers on one hand. Why would the artist paint this? Unfortunately, the information brochure doesn't hint at why this would be. 

More interesting even is the copy of the "Last Supper" painting which I saw in the Church of Sant'Ambrogio in Ponte Capriasca. When I looked at it, I thought it was just a modern copy, but reading about it later, it seems that this "Copy" of Leonardo da Vinci's famous work was painted barely 50 years later than the original (1494 in Milan) by an anonymous painter, who may or may not have been a student of Leonardo's, having made improvements on the original, possibly because Leonardo might have had to give up early on the original due to quickly deteriorating surface conditions**....How did he know exactly how to paint it, in a church 70 km North of the original? From memory? A pencil sketch?  What an interesting little discovery! 

**Side Note: Apparently very little remains of the original painting in Milan, despite numerous restoration attempts. And apparently the replica I saw was one of only 2 or 3 such early replicas in existence.

Chiesa di Santo Stefano in Tesserete, Ticino. The origins of this church are from over 1000 years.

Chiesa di Santo Stefano in Tesserete, Ticino. The origins of this church are from over 1000 years.

A long time ago the people were a whole lot smaller....

 

Sculptures, marble inlays and frescoes adorn the inside of this beautiful church.

On this primitive painting, there are six fingers on the hand of Baby Jesus.

Each community we walked through had a piazza something like this one.

Our 10-km walk from Tesserete to Lamone through the villages of Capriasca, near Lugano, Switzerland

On our way from Campestro to Cagiallo to Luggagia

It wasn't all city walking. In the background, the distinctive "Denti della Vecchia" ("Old Lady's Teeth")

A beautiful day for a walk in the mild southern temperatures while the North lays under a chill...

The lovely landscape of the Capriasca

A couple of years ago we walked along the pinnacles of the "Denti della Vecchia"

An interesting discovery: Three of the villages we walked through had these massive community washing basins

This fountain / washing basin we found in Vaglio. These were surely all cut and carved by hand.

Not all the churches are old. This intricately designed building in Vaglio dates only to 1916.

Looking East into the Val Colla

This area is warm enough to grow persimmons (and also kiwis, lots of kiwis)

In the village of Ponte Capriasca we were looking for a restaurant across from this really rather unassuming-looking church, and I just quickly popped in for a look. Near the entrance was a rendition of "The Last Supper" by Leonardo Da Vinci, so I took a quick photo to compare later on to a photo of the original I looked up on the Internet. 

The similarity is amazing, only the colours of the clothes are slightly different, and besides the painting being generally in much better condition, I was surprised to learn upon later reading that the copy was possibly done by a student of Leonardo, who finished the background much more elaborately than Leonardo did. It is theorized that Leonardo might have given up on finishing the painting as originally planned, because the surface was at that time already starting to deteriorate (too damp). It also seems like this is only one of two or three such early replicas in existence.

This is my photo of the ca.1550 replica of DaVinci's "Last Supper", inside the Church Sant'Ambrogio in Ponte Capriasca, Ticino

This is a photo of the original "Last Supper" (Wikipedia). The painting has greatly deteriorated.

We had lunch at a quaint little trattoria, we were the only guests and were treated well!

Piccata al Marsala and Risotto Milanese in the Trattoria del Giardino in Ponte Capriasca

This is a Mediterranean Pine, or Umbrella Pine, from which we get those expensive Pine Nuts.

This is my second time in Origlio, it has a very pretty old core

In Origlio

Walking around Lake Origlio in the late afternoon sun (that would be 14:30!)

Lago d'Origlio

The last village we walked through, Lamone, before catching the train to Lugano and then back North to the Cold!

Our 10-km walk from Tesserete to Lamone through the villages of Capriasca, near Lugano, Switzerland