Hike to the Natural Trail of Laghi del Gorzente

The itinerary crosses the historical dams and the ancient ice houses on Ligurian Mountains, which have always represented the water storage of the city of Genoa.
The ring itinerary develops along the Natural Trail of Laghi del Gorzente (lakes of Gorzente), made by the volunteers of CAI Bolzaneto, across Piedmont and Liguria, along the Alpine chain of Ligurian Apennines, in the group of Voltri.
The Laghi del Gorzente are three artificial lakes built from 1883 with the purpose of feeding the aqueducts of Genoa. The trail leads to two lakes: Lago Lungo and Lago Bruno, the latter takes its name from the author and creator, the Engineer Niccolò Bruno, as stated by the monumental effigy that records his work.
The hike also crosses the ring of the seven ice houses: large artificial diggings with stone walls that, until the ‘800, were used to preserve the snow. The person in charge of the ice house (“giassin” in local dialect) prepared the bottom of the ice house with leaves and branches and filled it with the first snow as much as he could. At the end of the season the ice house was covered with a straw roof with the shape of a pagoda. The snow, already turned into ice, was then carried during the night to the city where it was sold to preserve the fish on the boats, to heal fevers and bruises, but also to make sorbets!
For centuries, the ice houses have been an important sustenance for the city of Genoa, so much so that the ice trade was undergoing a state monopoly.
The itinerary starts from Prou Renè, crosses the characteristic peat bogs, passes by the Grain Stone (once used as a place for important trades), by the memorial Martiri di Passo Mezzano (martyrs of Mezzano pass), reaches the Natural Observatory of Laghi del Gorzente at Bric di Guana “Damiano Barabino”, placed along the Alta Via of Monti Liguri (High trail of Ligurian Mountains) - stage 23 Sterrata dei Laghi.
The trail also passes near the limit of the bronze tablet of Polcevera of 177 B.C., that is a bronze foil with a latin incision, reporting a sentence of two Roman magistrates who spoke about the borders and the territorial rights of Genoa, today kept at the Museo Civico di Archeologia Ligure (civic museum of Ligurian archeology) of Genoa Pegli.

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