Hiking trails in Corniglio

The Lagdei - Lago Santo - Monte Marmagna - Monte Orsaro route - Starting from the Lagdei Refuge, you reach Lago Santo, then ascend Monte Marmagna and Monte Orsaro, before returning to the starting point. It is a circular hike that winds through the Regional Park of the Cedra and Parma Valleys, offering breathtaking views of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines.

This 12 km loop trail, considered moderately challenging and requiring an average of 4 to 5 hours to complete, is great for Hiking, Rifugio Lagdei – Foce del Fosco – Monte Orsaro – Monte Braiola – Monte Marmagna – Lago Santo - Rifugio Mariotti. Park the car in the various parking areas, and follow the dirt road that leads to Rifugio Lagdei (1250 m) where you follow the vertical signs pointing to Prato della Valle (former forest nursery). At the junction with directions to the left for Bocchetta del Tavola, we now begin to climb through the forest until reaching Bocchetta del Tavola (1450 m). Now with another climb through the forest, we reach M.te Fosco (1680 m). Now we follow the path traced through the forest that leads to Monte Orsaro. After about half an hour, the beech forest gives way to low blueberry bushes and numerous violets. In about 20 minutes, we reach the summit of Monte Orsaro (1830 m). In clear weather conditions, it is possible to see the sea from this summit. We resume the descent along the ridge and quickly reach Bocchetta dell’Orsaro (1722 m). Now on the ridge, continue to reach Monte Marmagna, then descend to the Marmagna saddle and take the path on the left to descend to Lago Santo. Upon reaching the lake, we go right, following the path along the lake until reaching the sandstone carving site. Now continuing to the left, we head to Rifugio Mariotti. After a short break, we resume the descent along the former ski slope path until reaching Lagdei and finally the parking lot.

The Rifugio Lagoni is located next to the NE shore of Lago Gemini Inferiore in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park.

Lagdei - Lago Santo - Sella del Marmagna - Monte Aquila - Passo Delle Guadine - Capanne Di Badignana - Roccabiasca - Cancelli - Lagdei  

The great cross above Lago SantoThe city of Parma owes its name neither to cheese nor ham, but to a river that springs from Monte Marmagna. The northeast side of this mountain, which drops steeply with rugged rock faces towards Lunigiana, belongs to the "Park of a Hundred Lakes." Lago Santo, the most beautiful of its water bodies, has been considered sacred since ancient times – like its "namesake" in the province of Modena.

The hike from Lagdei to Mount Marmagna, passing by Lago Santo and Mount Orsaro, is a circular hike in the Tosco-Emiliano Apennine National Park. The route starts from Rifugio Lagdei (1250 m), reaches Lago Santo (1508 m) via trail No. 723A, and from Rifugio Mariotti, it goes halfway around the lake and then ascends to the Sella del Marmagna (1731 m), and then to Mount Marmagna (1851 m). Then it reaches first the Sella del Braiola (1702 m), and the Bocchetta dell'Orsaro (1693 m), and finally also Mount Orsaro (1830 m). Following trail 00.GEA, it reaches Foce del Fosco (1610 m). From here it descends via trail No. 725, AVP01, SI, back to Rifugio Lagdei.

Splendid panoramic route among the peaks of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. On the way out, you start from Rifugio Lagoni up to the Bishop's fountain, the only water point on the route. From there, carefully follow the CAI signs to climb a very steep part of the path that first leads to two parallel walls, called the Canyon, then to the snow hollow up to the Paitino saddle and from there to the summit. Then continue to the stone cairn along the ridge or along the lower path if the more exposed part of the trail bothers you. The return route is instead along the lakes (from Bicchiere to Lago Scuro passing by Passo di Fugicchia). It is not recommended to return by the more direct path used on the way out as it is very steep.

In the locality "I Cancelli" on the left there is a large dirt parking lot and the beginning of the road that leads to Rifugio Lagoni. Once parked, continue on foot following the signs to Lagoni lake and the refuge.

Regional Park of the Parma and Cedra Valleys (Park of the Hundred Lakes) - Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park - Lagdei Refuge - Giovanni Mariotti Refuge - Marmagna Saddle - Marmagna Peak

An excellent starting point to discover the park is the Lagoni refuge, from the parking lot before the Lagdei refuge, you  follow a long dirt road, losing yourself in kilometers of dirt hairpin bends winding through vast forests, which rise to the Passo della Colla and then descend back to the refuge, (For those who frequent the sunny southern slopes of the Apennines, the landscape opening near the refuge is so unusual that it makes you believe you are in some valley of Scotland or Scandinavia rather than not far from Parma, in front of the refuge a large glacier-origin lake nestles at the foot of the mountains towering above, sometimes with gentle ridges and sometimes rising into rocky crests, this is the first and largest of the two lakes known as Lagoni, which give the refuge its name, the refuge is a large stone building, completely immersed in the beech forest). From the refuge, follow the short and rewarding path signposted 711, skirting on the right the large lake by the refuge, entering, always well marked, the beech forest, after half an hour's walk you arrive at the "whale's back", (a rock ridge smoothed by ancient glaciers from the last glaciation, 15,000 years ago, the rock is perfectly smooth and on closer inspection you can still see the striations left by the flowing ice, every now and then there is a hole, so precisely carved as to seem man-made, these are potholes, cavities created by the meltwater streams of ancient glaciers, the turbulent water used pebbles as drill tips and over millennia it worked the rock carving these perfectly circular holes), the path now continues more regularly to a signpost, on the right there is an indication for the Black Lake, which is reached with another five minutes of ascent, it is a beautiful dark green lake perfectly nestled in a crown of sheer walls and dense beech woods, now descend, and take the left indications for the Black Lake Hut, the path crosses a wide and flat small valley, (full of raspberry plants) at the bottom of the small valley, 10 minutes from the initial signpost, there is the Black Lake Hut, a renovated alpine pasture used as a bivouac and especially known for the very fresh water spring, from here continue following path 711 to return to the Lagoni refuge, from the refuge follow the path that skirts the dirt road and finally return to the parking lot.