Torion Path

The Path begins in the center of the Borbore hamlet of Vezza, from the square in front of the large building of the Alba Bank and near a wide roundabout. A few meters from the square, heading towards the village of Castagnito, turn left onto Varasca Road.

At the large building of the Casetta Winery, turn right onto a flat road that soon becomes gravelled; here you proceed for a long time on the plain, among cultivated fields and hazelnut groves, parallel to the provincial road visible in the distance.

The fields are interspersed with plots cultivated as poplar groves: in the spring period, among the very tall trees arranged in perfectly ordered rows, you can admire the suggestive spectacle of the "poplar snow," the soft white flakes floating in the air; scientifically called "pappi," these flakes are nothing more than the light, feathery appendages of the tree that carry and aid the spread of seeds by the wind. According to experts, they are not allergenic. The English name of the tree, cottontree, derives precisely from these "pappi," although the etymology of the name "poplar" seems to come from the Latin 'populus' (people) because its dense foliage moved by the wind produces a murmur reminiscent of a crowd.

After passing the poplar groves, the flat path continues through gardens and sumptuous acacias that offer spectacular fragrant blooms in spring. At a fork, you encounter on a raised hillock a votive pillar frescoed: continue straight ahead and you again cross a long poplar grove on the left.

At the end of the poplar grove, the Path turns right and climbs steeply along the ridge of the opposite hill. To the left, acrobatic vineyards cling to the sandy slopes, while the path rises and the view becomes panoramic over the Borbore valley.

A right turn leads into a dense shady ridge forest, with very gentle ups and downs, which you travel for a very long stretch: here you walk among coppiced chestnuts, ferns, and moss that appreciate the moisture of the undergrowth.

You exit the forest for a stretch of path again panoramic and cultivated with vineyards, this time wider and more accessible for human work, and the view suddenly opens to the left on the village of Castellinaldo and the ancient parish church of San Servasio, which stands solitary on the top of a hill densely covered with vegetation.

Then you immerse yourself in a second stretch of dense and cool forest, with numerous ascents and descents, and reach a pine forest: here the ground is dry and covered with pine needles of various species. To the left, you notice the castles overlooking the opposite hill crests: the castle of Magliano Alfieri, where the famous playwright Vittorio Alfieri stayed as a child, and the Roero castle of Guarene with its eighteenth-century elegance, designed by the architect Benedetto Giacinto Roero.

You then arrive at the Torion, the hexagonal building built on the highest point of the "Castellero" hill of Vezza: its curious history, narrated on the dedicated board, explains how it was an extravagant country hut built in 1932, but also the scene of a bombing episode during the Second World War. The large holes opened by cannon shells are still visible today on the exterior walls.

Leaving the Torion behind, the path continues with a steep zigzag descent and reaches again the houses of Varasca road, thus closing the loop.