Antrona Schieranco between nature park and historic paths

In Antrona Schieranco, Alta Valle Antrona Nature Park, Antrona Lake and historic paths through the Antrona Valley come together. This creates a destination where landscape, water management and traditional crossings are interwoven. The themes range from the valley floor to high-altitude areas, making the surroundings especially interesting if you would like to explore nature and history at your own pace.

Nature park between the valley floor and high-altitude areas

Alta Valle Antrona Nature Park extends across areas of the municipalities of Antrona Schieranco and Viganella in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola. Its elevation range extends from the valley floor near Viganella at 500 m to Pizzo Andolla at 3,656 m in the upper Loranco Valley. Antrona Lake is one of the park's basins. Since 1926, it has been used as a reservoir for the downstream hydroelectric power plant in Rovesca. The lake was created after a large earth embankment blocked the course of the Troncone. This gives the landscape its appeal while also revealing a clearly recognizable history of water.

Historic paths through the Antrona Valley

The historic Antrona Route has been used since antiquity by travelers who crossed the Antrona or Saas Pass from the Antrona Valley into the Saas Valley and from Ossola into Valais. It connected Villadossola with Visp. Another historic path is a mule track with 52 hairpin bends that climbs from the village of Locasca to Molini.

Lake, pasture and a distinctive section of path

Cheggio is an extensive pasture on a gentle slope north of Antronapiana, at the entrance to the Loranco Valley. The Path Slow Trek – Lake Antrona has a different character: it leads over a steep metal ladder and then along a suspended walkway through Sajont Waterfall. These two places represent different ways of experiencing the natural surroundings—once as an open pasture at the entrance to the valley, and once as a passage closely connected with the waterfall.

Mining, chapels and rock art

The history of the surroundings also reveals several layers. Since 1700, gold ore from the Antrona Valley has been ground and amalgamated in numerous small water mills of the Piedmontese type. Rifugio Andolla mountain hut was inaugurated on July 5, 1953. Cappella del Buon Pastore was finally rebuilt in 1994 after being destroyed several times by avalanches. Following the Pozzuoli landslide in 1650, an oratory dedicated to Saint Bernard of Menthon was built. Near Alpe Cama superiore, a boulder is completely covered with petroglyphs. These include cup marks, grinding marks, magic squares, simple rings, cross- or star-shaped representations, inscriptions and anthropomorphic figures.

When choosing accommodation in Antrona Schieranco, a simple question about your interests can therefore help: Is your focus on the lake and the different elevations, on historic crossings, or on the cultural traces of mining, faith and rock art? These themes give your travel planning a clear direction without conflating the character of the individual places.

As a supplementary local page, you can visit Antronapiana.

For the overarching travel overview: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola.

More destinations

More places within the same destination:

Cannobio, Bracchio, Pallanza, Quarna Sotto, Gravellona Toce, Quarna Sopra, Miazzina.