From Cembra to Santo Lake in winter

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Cembra

From the car park in front of the winery 'Cantina Valle di Cembra', walk in direction Faver along the main road. At the traffic lights, leave the main road and go left up a road which climbs to the little square in the loc. "Fadana". Once there, take a road to the right of the fountain that climbs through vineyards towards a wood. After a very steep stretch of cement road, you reach a crossroads. Take left (do not conseder the road running downhill) in order to climb further up into the wood. At the third hairpin bend, turn right along a track which runs slightly downhill. At the next crossroads, bear left in order to resume the climb. As it climbs further, the path becomes less steep and converts into a tractor road. Where the path reaches a further crossroads, head downhill along the forest road, the lower section of which is cemented. At the bottom of the steep descent, follow the signpost for 'Ponciach/Lago Santo' and go on gently uphill and into the wood on a paved road. When you reach a house on the right side of the road, the path that takes you to the nice mountain hamlet of Ponciach is to be found in the middle of the small meadow. Signage is now abundant. Follow the signs for 'Lago Santo', i.e. continue uphill along a nice road, large sections of which are paved with porphyry. When you reach a crossroads at a place called 'Casalini, follow the signs for 'Zise', i.e. continue along a cobbled road until you walk past a large wooden wayside shrine and see a sign for 'Lago Santo' on the left. Take this forest road which at first runs just underneath the ridge of Monte Pincaldo, then takes you to a place called 'Sach' and continues towards 'Rifugio Lago Santo'. Now make a little detour to the left, across lovely meadows dotted with mountain huts: this area is called 'Veggiose. From the lake, follow the signs for Cembra ('E5 – 410') to go back to the starting point. At a place called 'Sant'Antonio' where the path, which has a few steep sections, reaches a crossroads with a forest road, take the latter and follow it until you reach a signpost for the ancient Via Claudia Augusta. Follow it in order to get back to Fadana and the starting place. The route follows some sections of one of the most spectacular modern European long-distance paths: the E5 trail, which runs from the Atlantic coast in France (though the majority of E5 ramblers start from Lake Constance) to the city of Verona. In ancient times, this area was crossed by an alternative stretch of the Via Claudia Augusta, and in the Middle Ages, there was also a similar route called 'Semita Caroli', both used until embankments were built along the Adige River in the 20th century; there was indeed a real need for such a bypass because when the Adige River burst its banks, it frequently made the roads of Valle dell'Adige impassable. The famous German engraver and painter Albrecht Dürer followed this alternative route across Valle di Cembra in 1494 as did Napoleonic troops some three centuries later on their way to the Castle of Segonzano.