Each excursion in Val Grande offers profound reflections on the past of these places, a past of which today there remain small traces immersed in extraordinary nature. This itinerary, in particular, shows the great importance that Val Grande had for the subsistence of many families and tells the dramatic events that led to its abandonment.
The panoramic itinerary starts from Ruspesso and reaches the top of Mount Faiè following the "uomo-albero" (tree-man) nature trail and passing Colma di Vercio to then descend towards Corte Buè. Along the route you come across the remains of cableways used extensively at the beginning of the 20th century to transport timber downstream, evidence of how Val Grande has been widely exploited and lived in by man.
Corte Buè is, in terms of size, among the largest settlements found in Val Grande and tells of how important the forestry-pastoral economy was. It is a mid-mountain pasture where families moved from spring to autumn. It is organized into 3 groups of houses and around 20 families from Rovegro, around 100 people, with around 50 cattle used to live here. Right from the pastures of Corte Buè the panorama opens towards the heart of Val Grande and the wilderness area: the Integral Nature Reserve established in 1971.
These places of toil became, in the summer of 1944, the scene of dramatic roundups by the fascists who destroyed dozens of mountain pastures as they passed, thus decreeing the total abandonment of Val Grande.
The history of Val Grande is intertwined with the history and lives of many partisan men and women, we remember in particular Cleonice Tomassetti, 32 years old, who arrived in Corte Buè on 11 June 1944 to join the partisan troops and the great ideal of freedom after a tormented life, marked by bereavement and abuse. On 12 June 1944, the day after her arrival, she was captured with other partisans during the great raid in Val Grande. On 20 June 1944, after a few days of imprisonment and torture, the 46 partisans were paraded in Intra by the Germans with a sign bearing the words "are these the liberators of Italy or are they the bandits?". In the afternoon 43 partisans were shot in Fondotoce, Cleonice was one of them and before dying she said "long live Italy, long live freedom for all". During the massacre of Fondotoce 42 partisans died and in that place today stands the House of the Resistance. Only one partisan, incredibly, survived: Carlo Suzzi, 18 years old, who from that day, returning to the Valdossola formation, called himself Quarantatrè (forty-three).
Traveled on: May 25th, 2024
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