On Monte Valandro

Leave the car near the small church of Seo (832m), located on the sides of Mount Valandro; here, the SAT 348 path starts following, in some stretches, the old cattle track with its cobblestones still showing the marks left by the sledges which were used to transport the hay down the valley from the pastures of Velandro and Brugnol. The road rises steep through the sun-drenched woods that cover the south sides of Gruppo Brenta; at the end of the forest road, continue on the cattle track going past the memorial “Caputel de Vessa” and further on, some rocky outcrops to reach “Localita’ I Salti”. Further ahead, the cattle track enters in the vast fields of Valandro; here, leave on your left the 346 path coming from Stenico and “Capitèl de la Spina”. Walk up the 348 path along a steep slope towards Malga Valandro, leaving baita Beningni on the hill on the right. After crossing a small pass, the path continues following the naturally undulant terrain to reach Malga Valandro, a recently renovated farmstead located in a vast grassy basin.  The path leads further ahead to Malga Asblez, in Val di Jon and to the Agostini & Al Cacciatore mountain huts. After stopping at the farmstead, make your way back retracing the same path.

Monte Valandro, commonly known by the locals as “El Mont de Sténech” (Mount of Stenico), rises above the villages of Stenico, Seo and Scelmo. A mighty and imposing mountain, treeless and blessed with sunshine throughout the day, behind which you can see the Parco Naturale Adamello-Brenta and the Gruppo del Brenta spreading out in all their splendour. Viewed from the bottom of the valley, as it juts out above the rocky outcrops below it, it features steep sides covered in green pastures which were, in the past, harvested but are now left for alpine grazing. Up to 1970, it was also training ground for the artillery whose headquarters were in Fiavè and in Val Lomasona.