Water and Rocks
- Trail Conditions: On foot
- Interest: Panorama, Archeology
Leaving from the Park Head Offices and leaving the reconstruction of a "taragn" on the left, the itinerary follows a steep uphill trail called "strada dei buoi" (the road of the oxen), characterized by a thick holly undergrowth and leading to the proto-Romanesque church of San Quirico situated on the banks of the homonymous river separating the provinces of Vercelli and Novara.
Going ahead, you will reach Cote quarry, from which blocks of dolomitic limestone were taken and transported on sleighs pulled by oxen along the above-mentioned road until the carriage road. Along the wall, it is possible to observe the fishbone-shaped signs of the manual procedures used for the extraction of the blocks.
A steep trail leads then to Piana dell'Orto, characterized by the presence of degraded chestnut coppice grove and from here, the firebreak road leads to Punta Bastia of the summit of Mt. Fenera. A cross of 12 meters characterizes the site from where it is possible to admire a complete panorama of the Western Alps and the underlying plain. Continue until you reach the oratory of San Bernardo, then the red sandstone quarry of Bianchi used for small objects until the half of the last century, and then a downhill trail quickly leading to the karst area, touching at first the cave "Buco della Bonaccia" used as practice place by speleologists and lately equipped with lights allowing its visit. Farther on, you will find some caves of paleontological interest, including "Ciota Ciara", "Sottoroccia del Belvedere" and "Ciutarun" where, during various excavation campaigns, the paleo-archaeological evidences that have enabled the reconstruction of the history of Valsesia in the last one hundred thousand years and that are preserved in the paleontology museum in Borgosesia have been found.
The downhill trail leads to the town of San Giulio and, from here, across the alluvial plateaus of Fenera di Mezzo, you go back to the departure point.
