© Lonely Planet 69 Maritime Alps Highlights Meeting nothing but marmots between Terme di Valdieri and Entracque (p75) Playing cards and sinking grappa in the Rifugio Garelli (p86) Watching aggressive ibex mating rituals by the Lago di Valscura (p73) Dipping your hiking boot into a 4km portion of France during the two-day Marguareis Circuit (p82) Signature food: Risotto alla Celebrated native: Michele Famous for… Rum-filled Piemontese Ferrero (chocolate magnate) chocolates Northern Italy, crowded? Not if you bring your hiking boots. Shoehorned between the rice-growing plains of Piedmont and the sparkling coastline of Liguria lie the brooding Maritime Alps – a small pocket of dramatically sculpted mountains that rise like stony-faced border guards along the frontier of Italy and France. Smaller, yet no less majestic than their alpine cousins to the north, the Maritimes are speckled with mirror-like lakes, foraging ibex, and a hybrid cultural heritage that is as much southern French as northern Italian. Despite their diminutive size, there’s a palpable wilderness feel to be found among these glowering peaks. Get out of the populated valleys and onto the imposing central massif and you’ll quickly be projected into a high-altitude Shangri-La. Whistling marmots scurry under rocky crags doused in mist above a well-marked network of mountain trails where the sight of another hiker – even in peak season – is about as rare as an empty piazza in Rome. This is Italy at its most serene and serendipitous. Not 20km to the south are the fancy resort towns of Portofino and San Remo; yet up here in the high country that straddles the invisible border between Italy and France all you need is a map, a decent pair of shoes, and enough cheese and ciabatta to keep you going until dinnertime. The main trailheads lie to the south of the town of Cuneo in a couple of recently inaugurated regional parks, fanning out from the small ski centre of Limone Piemonte and the airy spa of Terme di Valdieri. Flush up against the frontier with maritime France (the epic Marguareis Circuit actually crosses the border for approximately 4km), the Maritimes retain a notable Alpine flavour in both their architecture and their terrain. But, whether it’s bonjours or buongiornos you’re offering, the alps welcomes are always warm and the hiking positively sublime. 70 • MARITIME ALPS • History lonelyplanet.com MARITIME ALPS Fossano To Turin To Alba To Alessandria Dronero Busca Dogliani S20 S231 A6 Murazzano PARCO F REGIONALE Demonte iu i m D E L B E I G U A d e Caraglio ra T tu Pesio an S te ar o Dego PIEDMONT Torren Mondov CUNEO Borgo San A6 CEVA Dalmazzo Carcare To Millesimo Genoa Valdieri Éllero Bagnasco Altare te Terme di Certosa 3 n Savona Valdieri 2 di Pesio rre To Auroa Entracque To Calizzano Isola Parco Naturale Limone dell'Alta Valle Spotorno Cima Sud Argentera 1 Piemonte Pesio e Tanaro Garessio (3297m) A10 PARCO NATURALE Noli Punta D E L L E A L P I LIGURIA Marguareis MARITTIME Finale To (2651m) Viozene Ormea Valberg Tende Ponte Loano St. Martin di Nava Vésubie F R A N C E Monesi Pieve di Teco Ortovero PARC NATIONAL DU MERCANTOUR Albenga Triora Alassio Laigueglia To Entrevaux Capo Montalto LIGURIAN LIGURIA Mele SEA Maritime Alps Maps IMPERIA Diano Marina Taggia 1 Lago di Valscura Circuit p74 A10 0 10 20km 2 Terme di Valdieri to Entracque p76 Ventimiglia 3 Parco Naturale Alta Valle Pesio e Tanaro p83 SAN REMO 0 5 10 miles HISTORY to as the Sentiero del Sale or ‘Salt Route’ in Recent archaeological discoveries point to reference to its former status as the thor- the occupation of the Vei del Bouc Valley, oughfare between Cuneo and the coast. southeast of San Giacomo, by shepherds Colle di Finestra has more recent, tragic during the Bronze Age. A better known historical resonances. In September 1943 site from the same period is Vallée des several hundred Jews fleeing the Nazi oc- Merveilles (Valley of the Marvels), south cupation of southern France crossed the of the border in France’s Parc National du Alps here on foot in search of a safe haven Mercantour, where there is an extensive in Italy. Most were captured and first in- collection of rock engravings that date from terned in a concentration camp at Borgo about 1800 BC to 1500 BC. The practice of San Dalmazzo, then transported to camps grazing livestock in the valleys and high in Germany and never seen again. meadows of the Maritime Alps continues All the walks in this chapter have stages today, though many of the gias, or herders in common with the Grand Traversata delle camps, that walkers come across are now Alpi (GTA). Some of these date from the abandoned. mid-19th century, when the Argentera was The profusion of walking routes across a huge royal hunting reserve, and follow the Maritime Alps from north to south hunting trails built for Vittorio Emanuele testifies to the centuries-old commerce II, king of Sardinia-Piedmont and the first between southern Piedmont and France. king of a united Italy. Lodges occupied by alps People, ideas and goods for trade have the king’s hunting parties can be seen at crossed the Alps freely here since before the Terme di Valdieri, on Piano del Valasco days of the Roman Empire. Even the domi- (p73) and near San Giacomo (p80). Other nant language on both sides of the Alps sections of the GTA follow roads that was for a long time the same – l’occitano were built, or enlarged, for military pur- maritime or langue d’oc. Track M11 over Colle di poses between the world wars, especially Finestra, for example, is sometimes referred in the 1930s – the wide, stone-paved track .