The Antrona Valley ring: Antrona Lake and Campliccioli Lake

The Antrona landslide of 1642

The Antrona Valley is one of the most remote and least known valleys of the Ossola. In the past it attempted to gain its importance as a transit valley between Italy and Switzerland like the nearby Sempione Pass, but clearly the Sempione prevailed.

As if that wasn't enough, in 1642 a huge landslide of 20 million cubic meters of earth and boulders broke away from the Cima di Pozzuoli, destroying 40 buildings in the old town of Antrona and killing 95 people. As evidence of that landslide, Lake Antrona was formed thanks to the landslide of 1642.

Lake Antrona and the Sajont waterfall

We park at Lake Antrona (1073 m) - in one of the various car parks between the bridge over the Ovesca stream and Alpe Russi. It seems you can also continue by car to the Lake Campliccioli dam, but we prefer to start from Lake Antrona. We first pass through the north side of the lake, taking a new path with metal protections that takes us behind the Sajont waterfall.

Lake Campliccioli and the mining trail

We then continue along the lakeside until we reach the path to Alpe Piana and the Lake Campliccioli dam (1352 m, 1.30 hours). From the dam we go up a bend in the road to intercept a nice segment of a narrow gauge railway line that served some mines in the area.

With the railway between our feet, we reach the end of Lake Campliccioli, cross the stream that feeds the lake, and go up to Alpe Granarioli (1412 m, 40 minutes), which invites us to stop.

Variation of Lake Cingino

Here the path continues to Lake Cingino, made famous by a BBC video with 200 million views which shows a group of ibex clinging to the semi-vertical wall of the dam. From Lake Cingino you can then cross on level ground to Lake Camposecco through a tunnel of over 2km dug into the mountain - you walk alongside the penstock that carries the waters of Lake Cingino upstream of the Campliccioli hydroelectric power station.

The downhill

If instead we stop at Alpe Granarioli, we return to Lake Antrona, keeping to the opposite shore of Lake Campliccioli. Once we reach the dam (30 minutes), we descend along a wide and beautiful mule track, the old Strada Antronasca, on the northern side of the valley. With a constant slope, it takes us back to Alpe Ronco, near Lake Antrona (45 minutes).