Tour of Bessanese is a magnificent hike in the north west corner of Italy. It’s a 4 days hike and there is a certain degree of flexibility that make possible to arrange an hike with different degree of difficulty. With Elizabeth and Steven, a very nice Canadian couple which is about to marry, we choose to go for the hard option with the climbing of Croce Rossa peak at 3566m. Ten days before the starting day of the hike, Simone, coming from the countryside of Firenze, joined us. And the group was really great!
Simone’s English was not perfect but a great spirit immediately was shared by the group. Moreover everyone had something in common: the wine. Elizabeth and Steven came to Italy with the declared target to get as much good wine as they can. And they certainly did it:) They bring up in the first hut, the San Camillo hut, a very special bottle of wine (the Brunello di Montalcino). It was luxury in the adventure: a very nice mix indeed. Simone is working in a familiar wine enterprise. He has wine running in his veins and I am certainly not leaving them to drink alone.
During the Tour we had the chance to share our time with people which was doing the same tour of Bessanese with us and we definitely enjoy the wonderful Alpine scenery of the high Alps. We did not see a village for four days and we experienced a very nice dinners in the huts Cibrario and Averole. Despite being in France, at Averole they prepared Lasagna and I have to admit it was great. Moreover with the Croissant at breakfast they finally conquered my heart(and stomach). We were lucky with the weather having only a shower for 30 minutes in four days of total sunny and nice alpine enviroment.
Elizabeth had hard time the last day as she had a soar knee, but she was great in taking it easy and slowly being able to go down the valley. Steven and Simone were basically at their first experience but they were very fit and they really enjoyed the Nature and the Adventure. Climbing Croce Rossa peak was probably the highlight of the entire hike also because we spotted 4 Gyps that greeted us once we were at the peak. The Gyps are the biggest birds of Europe with 2 meters and 50 cm of flying aperture. It was just amazing!
The trek also passed through the Collarin Pass which is very steep but none of us had particular problem and we just did it. I really have to thanks everyone for their spirit of adaption and really nice mood for all the trek. We had great weather, great time, great hike. Many thanks also to the Cibrario Shelter people: you are amazing!
