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WARNING: trekking is not like walking! If you can't overcome a passage, go back!
Some of the tracks presented here are set along mountain trails where some passages may require holding to ropes or climbing short ladders, and may have exposed passages without safety protections. These tracts can be a serious danger if faced without the right equipment, awareness and physical condition.
ITINERARIUM® has no responsibility regarding the tracks presented here, their dangerousness, accessibility, praticability and safety. Who decides to take these tracks does it at their own risk.

Hike to lake Panelatte from Arvogno, among the chapel of Saint Pantaleon and Alpe I Motti

Along the ancient mule track among pastures and alpine lakes

Val D'Ossola - Val Vigezzo

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length icon Length:
11.4 Km
time icon Our time:
5h30' walking
climb icon Total climb:
870 mt
height icon Min and max height:
1200mt - 2065mt
track ring icon Type of track:
ring track
surface icon Surface:
trail - mule track - steps
panorama icon Panorama:
mountains - lake
coverage icon Cell network coverage:
very poor
winter icon Traced in winter:
no
bike icon Traced by bike:
no

The itinerary starts from Arvogno, in the town of Toceno, crosses the high bridges on Eastern Melezzo and Rio Verzasco and follows the ancient mule track that climbs the slope in a succession of woods, pastures and meadows, in a landscape among the richest and most suggestive of the Valley of Painters. This ring itinerary allows to cross the pastures of Alpe Verzasca, Alpe Borca, Alpe Pronchincio, Alpe Villasco and Alpe I Motti.

Between Pioda di Crana and Pizzo di Fontanalba, sheltered by a small basin, there is the ancient chapel showing a painting of Saint Pantaleon on its front. Pantaleon was a medic, beheaded by order of Emperor Diocletian in 305, the century of the cruel persecution against the Christian. A legend in Vigezzo explains the reason why the valley people dedicated a chapel to Saint Pantaleon: during a morning in August, a shepherd went uphill with his mules towards Fontalba pass and on its way he met four women who warned him: “a bad wind is blowing on the mountain today!”, but the shepherd did not believe them, the sky was clear. Once he reached the pass though, the sky became menacing and he understood he bumped into four witches. One always had to be careful in Val Vigezzo, both ugly and beautiful women could be witches (strii in dialect) and there were also wizards (planduj in dialect). The rain began, thunders, lightnings and the scream of the wind were calling the witches to gather from their caves of Crana and among them there were also the four witches of the morning! These witches rushed against the shepherd, who fell on his knees and prayed to his saint protector, Saint Pantaleon, who saved him. The shepherd, whose name was indeed Pantaleon, built a chapel to his saint where there were the marks left by his knees. Once the building was completed, the witches went to bed and died on the same night!

Nearby the Chapel of Saint Pantalon, along the mule track, there is a huge stone with a carving that resembles a cave. In Arvogno and in its nearby towns there was a legend saying that the witches used to dance during their sabbath: the dances were so wild the marks of their heads are still visible today! Other rocks near the chapel have some marks that could be ancient cups and rings consumed by the time or, simply, marks of natural origin. In popular fantasy these marks were explained as signs left by the devil or by tragic events like those left by a shepherd’s hands when a huge witch wanted to toss him from the Piudàa (Pizzo della Balma).

The itinerary proceeds towards lake Panelatte, a small lake characterized by the presence of Eriophori: an evergreen grass with unique “spikes” covered by some sort of white down which looks like cotton. The name of the lake might come from a habit of shepherds, who stopped on its banks to eat a short but restoring meal with bread (pane in Italian) and milk (latte in Italian).


Traveled on: Jul 9th, 2023
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