Alpine around Valsolda

The municipality of Valsolda at the northern Lake Lugano offers some nice scrambling rocks. Unlike the surrounding higher mountains marked by gentle grassy slopes, the municipality of Valsolda is surprisingly wild and rocky; part of the municipality is therefore a nature reserve. This circular route leads from the mountain village of Dasio over the rocky peak Il Torrione to the border summit Cima di Fojorina and then always along the Italian-Swiss border to the Denti della Vecchia (literally “teeth of the old woman”). These “teeth” made of dolomite are an important climbing area in Ticino. The highest of the rocky teeth, Sasso Grande, can also be scrambled without climbing equipment (grade II). After the climb, the route goes through the wildly beautiful Valle Fontana and historic alpine pastures back to Dasio.