FOLLOWING THE DUKE’S ROAD

Make your way up the paved road and after 400m you will come to the first signpost for trail 519 to Foce a Giovo. For the moment we turn right towards Lake Santo , which is only 100 m away. The lake has three shelters on its shores. Retracing our steps, we turn right onto the GEA-Lake Baccio path, which soon turns into a wide, slightly uphill, stony road that is pleasant to walk along in the shade of the beech wood.

At Km 1 (15 min.) we find the fork for Foce a Giovo, which we will come back to, but not before we’ve climbed up to Lake Baccio at 1560 m a.s.l. Continuing straight on, it only takes us a short time to get there (Km 1.7 - 30 min.). Returning to the previous fork in the road, we take trail 519, which alternates between stretches inside the beech wood and others that are more exposed and cluttered with erratic boulders that have fallen from the Rondinaio Lombardo ridge. We continue through the woods until we reach km 4 (1.20 hours), where we find the signposted diversion to Lako Turchino. Follow trail 517 on the right, which climbs very steeply through the woods and finally reaches the grassy basin of the lake at 1620 m a.s.l., overlooked by the peak of Rondinaio Lombardo (4.8 km - 1.50 hours). Just a few dozen metres away is a lovely and clearly signposted spring.

We ignore the first deviation for the “Finestra del Rondinaio” and the next one for “Lago Torbido” and continue along the CAI trail 519 (Sentiero Italia – Italy Trail), gaining a little elevation and finally reaching the “Foce a Giovo” at 1664 m a.s.l.(Km 6 - 2.25 hours).

From the little chapel at the pass, head northwards along trail 519 marked “Lago Santo”. We descend to the grassy and peaty Gore Plateau, rich in spring water, and soon arrive at the fork for Lake Turchino, which we passed on the way up. We make our way back along the familiar route, passing the fork for Lake Baccio and returning to our starting point (10 km - 3.30 hours).