GTL - Tappa 05: Gottasecca - Saliceto

 

You will now need to retrace your steps for a few metres and, rather than climbing, head along the flat to the right on a dirt road into the woods. An initial curve to the left and another to the right will take you across a small stream. Head up to the left at the next fork in the road near a field and continue on to the crest of the hill. This will include a steeper section of dirt road. Pass a few fields and head back into the woods, which will be dense with downy oak. After a final steep climb, you will reach the crest, where the trail continues along a false flat. The ups and downs of this trail continue until a marked descent to the left, which is often muddy. Turn right at a crossroads and continue along the flat to a characteristic selletta (saddle).

 

Continue down to the left along a gravel road until you reach, after a brief uphill, a paved road at an intersection known as “Le Quattro Vie” (The Four Roads), where you will see a shrine. Cross the paved road and, just a few metres to the left, take the trail that heads up into the woods. A few stone “steps” cut by water erosion make this section more difficult. You will soon reach the crest of the hill, where you will need to follow a wide dirt trail that runs slightly uphill as it cuts across the summit of Bric Baraccone until you reach a clearing. Here, you are at the extreme edge of the Piedmont region at the border with Liguria (and it is here that the Uzzone river begins). Head to the right and continue until another wayside shrine uphill from the Baraccone farmhouse in the middle of vast pasturelands. Continue along the crest until the paved road, then follow this road for a few dozen metres until you find a curve into the woods. Continuing along the crest and the dirt road to the left, you will reach a panoramic intersection in the middle of vast cultivated fields. Keep to the centre along the watershed as the dirt road gradually re-enters the woods and, after a stony uphill section, becomes gravellier.

Continue to the right and then, after the “La Madonnina” shrine at a characteristic rock outcropping, along a flat section until the end of the gravel road near a number of farmhouses. Once on the paved road, you will head down quickly, past a number of wide curves, to the first homes of the village of Saliceto. Turn right at the end of the descent and continue along the flat alongside the town park. You will soon come to the main highway of the Bormida Valley. Turn left here and head to the square.

Saliceto is a lovely valley village with evident Ligurian influences, including a picturesque Renaissance castle built on the banks of the Bormida as well as a number of remarkable churches, featuring the Church of San Lorenzo, a masterpiece of Donato Bramante, like its cousin the Church of Roccaverano, which has a number of esoteric symbols in its façade, including a rare Baphomet (which connects the church to the legends of the Templars). Then there is the Sant’Agostino Oratory with its rare portrayal of St. Francis in the Bormida Valley and other traditional subjects of religious art. Finally, there is the hidden masterpiece of the Church of San Martino in Lignera, which is certain to take your breath away just as it has done to travellers of these valleys for centuries, as they witnessed the extraordinary 15th century frescoes of the nearby Mondovì school.