Hike from Cuzzego to Cardezza

The ring itinerary goes from Cuzzego to Cardezza along the Roman road and from Cardezza to Cuzzego along the “bread road”.
There was a time when the Toce’s water came close to the mountains’ slopes with recurring floodings, so the roads and houses were built at a “safe” altitude, leaving the plain empty. The same was true for a paved road that, back in 196 A.D., used to connect Lake Maggiore with Ossola and Simplon. The road was built (or restored) by the Emperor Settimio Severo as stated by a plaque, which stands today in a monument just outside the center of Dresio. Such an important proof that it has been protected and kept intact, so much that it caused a modification of the railway track built in 1903.
Along this path the “minur” is met: a lists way used to carry the gneiss, extracted by the “picasass” (stone miners, in dialect), down towards the valley.
From the Roman road, the Lossetti tower is reached: a watchtower that was part of a larger system of fortifications, overseeing the means of communication that, in the Middle Age, directly connected Milan to Switzerland.
From the town of Cardezza it then reaches the Oratory of Sant’Antonio da Padova, going downwards to Cuzzego along the “bread road”: the path used to carry the bread, in the baskets, from Cuzzego’s oven to the houses of the inhabitant, after a ceremony with the blessing of the loaves.

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