Nasagò - Pilone delle Caranche - Ormea (Balconata d'Ormea)

BALCONATA DI ORMEA 1st Stage from Nasagò - Pilone delle Caranche - Ormea.

By transferring with at least two cars, people get off at Nasagò and one car is driven to Ormea, then you return to Nasagò, all within 15 minutes round trip. Crossing No. 1 - Barchi, Case Breo - San Giacomo di Eca - Pilone delle Caranche - Distance 10.6 km to Ormea - Elevation gain +805 m / -711 m. Time about 5:50 hours. Hiking difficulty.

Beautiful crossing, especially in the first half, which passes through numerous picturesque hamlets, some partially restored, others inhabited by a handful of residents, others now abandoned, but all full of charm and history. Noteworthy is the Church of Albra, perfectly restored and in a magnificent panoramic position, and also remarkable is the painting preserved at the Pilone delle Caranche; beautiful chestnut groves can be found in Villaro, offering wide views.

ROUTE: From Nasagò (670 m) there is the asphalt road to Eca, travel the small road for just a few meters, then turn left (signpost) onto an old mule track climbing diagonally among lush bushes, it crosses a small watercourse and returns to the asphalt road; follow it to the left for several hundred meters. At the first curve, take a dirt track to the left that reaches the hamlet of Santa Libera (780 m), right near the namesake chapel. Leaving the church on the left, follow a mule track on the right, which crosses the asphalt road that leads to the houses and continues uphill above the buildings towards the northwest. With some comfortable bends among old terraces, the mule track rises up to San Giacomo di Eca (859 m, 0:40 hours from Nasagò). Continue on the dirt road above the church, following it to the left, passing the charming hamlets of Vacieu (1021 m) and Cariò (1155 m). You reach Albra (1078 m, 1:15 hours from San Giacomo di Eca) and finally Villaro (1038 m, 0:40 hours from Albra), near the Church of the Holy Trinity and Saint Matthew. Join the asphalt road and turn right. After only a few meters, take a small, always asphalted road that branches off to the right at the edge of the chestnut grove. At the first hairpin turn, continue straight uphill on a mule track that enters the forest, crossing a small stream to the hamlet of Lunghi (1081 m), where there is a fountain. Among the houses of the hamlet, you come to a fork; take the mule track to the left that returns to the asphalt road right by the cemetery. Now follow the road to the right up to the first hairpin turn, where you leave it to continue left on a dirt farm road. Having left the trail to Ormea to the left, climb to the few houses of Airola (1111 m, 0:25 hours from Villaro). Then start descending on a mule track, keeping right at a fork near a votive shrine. At the next fork, leave to the left an old mule track overgrown with bushes to continue right on a flat path. The path cuts across a beautiful oak wood facing north-northwest, then joins a grassy track climbing from Ormea. Follow it right until you reach a fountain and a fork, take right uphill, passing behind the Case Gialatti. Reaching a panoramic ridge, you reach the Pilone delle Caranche, a votive shrine whose wide barrel vault provides possible shelter in bad weather. Now return about 200 m back, then descend left to the houses of Costa Secca. Continuing downhill, you arrive at San Mauro and finally where the cars are, in Ormea. Distance 10.6 km (parked there previously).