Hike from Forno to Campello Monti along the Strona and the "Stra' vegia"

An itinerary that discovers Valle Strona, the valley of “gratagàmul” (dialect for “woodworm scratchers”), so called in ‘900 because of its artigianal production of spoons, that began thanks to Carlo Zamponi and his innovative production technique.
The trail starts from Forno, a small town that has seen centuries of work of great pewter artisans, later emigrated in Europe and America, where they collected large fortunes. The emigrants were mainly men of the town, while the women stayed and continued their hard work, their traditions and the life of the community. So much that Otra, a hamlet of Forno, in 1700 became the first town administered by women only and, in 1871, when a flooding destroyed the church of Campello Monti, the women rebuilt it, working the beams for the roof and carving the stone slabs.
While going along this short tract of Stra’ vegia (“old road” in dialect) one can’t help but think about the women that walked this way with their heavy baskets, reaching Omegna for the thursday market, carrying butter, cheese, kids, wool, clothes and artigianal embroideries, going back to town with their baskets full of what couldn’t be produced in the valley.
This itinerary leads to the new gangway built overhanging the Strona river, granting a sight on the deep ravine of San Giulio from an unusual point of view, and then goes up along the valley passing by the villages of Cerani, Piana di Forno, Tapone, Pian Pennino, Falda e Ronco eventually reaching Campello Monti that “looks like it was created by the fantasy of a poetic illustrator of ancient tales”.

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