Passeggiata alle Salvine Walk

A spring walk in the alpine pastures of the Elvo Valley

The Passeggiata alle Salvine is a mid-May event organized by the Friends of Bagneri together with the Bagneri Parish and the Biella Scouts. It is an opportunity to discover the Salvine, an area of pastures and mountain huts lying above the Tracciolino trail, between the municipalities of Muzzano and Graglia, in the Elvo Valley (Province of Biella, Piedmont), at the foot of Mount Mombarone. May is the perfect month to explore these meadows: the grass is tall, the huts emerge from the long winter, and flowers color the slopes.

The village of Bagneri and its Ecomuseum

Bagneri is a tiny hamlet of Muzzano, at an altitude of about 900 meters, one of the highest inhabited centers in the Biella area. Where hundreds of people once lived, very few inhabitants remain today, but the village is kept alive by the Friends of Bagneri association, founded in 2004 to restore the houses, the Ecomuseum of Mountain Civilization, and spaces for young people. The Ecomuseum preserves the old carpentry workshop, the schoolroom of the past, and the chestnut room, all witnesses to the mountain life of these valleys.

How the day unfolds

The meeting point is early in the morning on the Tracciolino trail above Bagneri. From there, you set off on an easy two-hour hike along dirt roads and trails, crossing the meadows and huts of the Salvine up to a mountain dairy farm. At noon, amidst the pastures, Mass is celebrated with a blessing of the alpine pastures and those who live and care for them. Immediately after, the most convivial moment arrives, with the serving of polenta concia prepared by the locals and volunteers. The return in the afternoon is at your leisure, and for those who wish to learn more, a guided tour of the village of Bagneri and the Ecomuseum is available.

A calendar of festivals that keeps the village alive

The Passeggiata alle Salvine is one of the initiatives through which the Friends of Bagneri animate the year: from the Herb Festival on Easter Monday to the Patronal Feast of Saint Bernard in June, from the Feast of the Madonna del Piumin in September to the Thanksgiving Feast in autumn. All speak of the same deep bond between a community and its mountains, in a corner of the Biella area that is worth discovering on foot.