G.A.L. Mongioie

The territory

Lying where the Ligurian Alps meet the Apennines and where the Cuneo plain embraces the last offshoots of the Langa, the G.A.L. Mongioie now comprises forty-seven municipalities covering more than 1,150km² and more than 50,000 inhabitants. The southernmost corner of the province of Cuneo has always represented a heterogeneous amalgam of history, nature, and culture, distinguished by seven main orographic valleys, some secondary ridges, and a kaleidoscopic web of forests, hills, and slopes. From Briga Alta to Dogliani, from Torresina to Frabosa Sottana, passing through Garessio, Battifollo, Roccaforte Mondovì and Sale San Giovanni, there are hundreds of kilometers to ride and experience one pedal stroke after another, to immerse oneself in a varied world that from the 2,631 meters of altitude of Mount Mongioie plunges down to the 300 meters of altitude of the Tanaro plain. A world of rocks, pastures and small villages, which since 2024 also includes the charming medieval village of Mondovì Piazza.

Nature

The nearby breath of the Ligurian Sea has always influenced the area's botanical and faunal biodiversity. Numerous, for example, are the Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) that are part of the Natura 2000 Network, such as the Bagnasco Forest, the Pamparato Beechwoods and Mount Anoroto. However, the most obvious naturalistic peculiarities of the Mongioie G.A.L. are undoubtedly to be found in the Valtanarino side of the Marguareis Nature Park and the striking Belbo Springs Nature Reserve, both of which are administered by the Maritime Alps Protected Areas Management Authority, based in Valdieri.

Two places with high rates of botanical biodiversity, with several endemic plant and flower species, and a unique geological and landscape heritage, such that the Ligurian Alps are the main karst basin in the entire northwestern Alps. A true sanctuary for international speleology with hundreds of kilometers of underground cavities, some of which have become over the years excellences that can also be visited by the general public: the Grotta di Bossea, the first tourist cave opened in Italy in 1874; the Grotta dei Dossi, considered among the most colorful in Italy because of its particular concretions; and the Grotte del Caudano, discovered in 1898 and developed for three kilometers and four overlapping floors.

Nature and landscape thus become key ingredients for hiking enjoyment of the area. There are many, not surprisingly, short or long-distance itineraries that lap or cross the territory of the G.A.L. Mongioie: the Great Traverse of the Alps (GTA), which originates right in Viozene di Ormea; the Marguareis Tour, which immerses itself in the karst environments of Mongioie and the Tanaro Valley; theAlta Via dei Monti Liguri , which caresses the peaks overlooking Garessio, Ormea, Alto and Caprauna; the Balconata di Ormea, which symbolically unites all the old alpine hamlets of Ormea located on the hydrographic left of the Tanaro, from Eca to Viozene; the Landandé Trail, which touches all the villages of the Langa Monregalese and the lower alpine valleys (Briaglia, Vicoforte, Niella Tanaro, San Michele Mondovì, Mondovì, Monasterolo Casotto, Viola, Lesegno, Mombasiglio, Scagnello, Battifollo, Lisio and Pamparato) in an itinerary suitable for everyone and practicable for most of the year. Without considering, of course, the more circumscribed itineraries and those in the process of being defined and enhanced, such as the Roa Marenca, the Deserta Langarum trails, the Sentieri di Giorgio in Frabosa Soprana, and the Di Giro in Giro loop in Roccaforte Mondovì.

Not to be missed, for lovers of thrill on two wheels, are the territorial bike parks (from Viola to Mount Alpet) and especially the extraordinary Via del Sale that leads from the upper Tanaro Valley to Limone Piemonte.

Culture

It is difficult to condense the immense historical and cultural heritage of the G.A.L. Mongioie territory into a few lines. Alongside seemingly secondary architectural peculiarities (such as the fortified remains of the Tanaro valley, the archaeological area of Montaldo di Mondovì, the dozens of rural chapels with centuries-old frescoes found here and there among woods and pastures), the best-known artistic attractions of an area that just in recent years has been undergoing an important cultural revalorization deserve to be mentioned.

The Sanctuary of Vicoforte with its extraordinary elliptical dome, the largest in the world, which, thanks to the Magnificat project, can be visited in all its splendor, even reaching the lantern at a height of 60 meters; the Mondovì Piazza district, with Andrea Pozzo's incredible Mission Church, the Belvedere Tower, the former Social Theater, the Ceramics Museum and the Civic Museum of Printing; the Royal Castle of Casotto, founded as a Carthusian monastery in the 11th century and later becoming the hunting residence of the House of Savoy; the historic center of Garessio, listed as one of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy, and the nearby village of Ormea, distinguished by a heart-shaped urban layout reminiscent of the Ligurian hinterland; the hamlet of Prea di Roccaforte Mondovì, which every year is transformed into an open-air stage for the Living Crib of the same name, also performed in Bagnasco and Dogliani Castello; the Fort of Ceva, a precious and rare example of Piedmontese military architecture, and the nearby Castle of Mombasiglio, of medieval origin, located in a panoramic position and home to the G.A.L. Mongioie.

Don't miss, for lovers of religious buildings, the church of San Fiorenzo in Bastia Mondovì (with no less than 326 square meters of frescoes painted by several hands by the best popular schools of the 15th century), the chapel of San Maurizio in Castelnuovo di Ceva dating back to before the year 1000 with well-preserved frescoes from 1459, the chapel of Sant'Anastasia and the parish church of San Giovanni in Sale San Giovanni, both originating in the 11th century, and the parish church of San Maurizio in Roccaforte Mondovì, custodian of one of the very few Romanesque-Byzantine fresco cycles in all of Piedmont. Finally, fans of fortified structures can indulge themselves by climbing the towers of Rocca Ciglié, Castelnuovo di Ceva, Castellino Tanaro and Priero.

Food and wine

An area as morphologically and climatically diverse as the G.A.L. Mongioie cannot but guard a unique food and wine heritage, rich in typical productions of excellence.

Impossible not to mention, in this regard, the wine production of the hills surrounding Dogliani, renowned for its full-bodied and appreciated reds, to which is added the Langa Monregalese with its Alta Langa DOCG, Piedmont's recent classic method sparkling wine. Among the best-known dishes are the traditional knife-beaten or all'albese raw meat, ravioli al plin and fresh egg pasta (tajarin), vitello tonnato and Russian salad, not forgetting the green anchovies and bagna caoda that are inevitable on a typical Piedmontese table.

The salubriousness of the air and the historic tradition of mountain pasture and mountain pasturing then allow the master cheese-makers to produce Toma Piemontese DOP, Bra DOP and above all Raschera DOP, a true local excellence named after the alp of the same name located at the foot of Mount Mongioie, flanked by other local products such as seirass and Ormea.

Not only cheese, however, in the land of the G.A.L. Mongioie: in fact, the soil characteristics favor the cultivation of the Slow Food Presidium White Turnip of Caprauna, black truffles (famous, for example, the fair of the same name in Scagnello) and buckwheat and enkir. The revival of the latter crops, particularly on the hills of Sale San Giovanni, an area known as the "Provence of Cuneo" for its characteristic color games in June and July, and the rediscovery of the Tanaro valley's historic recipe books have revived, for example, Polenta Saracena, a Valtanarine excellence made with potatoes, leeks and mushrooms.

Desserts include Paste di Meliga del Monregalese, also a Slow Food Presidium, Biscotti di Pamparato, Cupete (celebrated in Torre Mondovì by the autumn festival of the same name) and, for those strolling through the historic center of Mondovì, the so-called risole, to be accompanied by a sip of Rakikò, the typical Monregalese liqueur.

Finally, an area so rich in forests could not fail to represent a small paradise for mycology lovers - in Ceva the National Mushroom Exhibition has been held since 1962, organized by the municipality and the Gruppo Micologico Cebano, the second to be born in all of Italy - and chestnuts. On the net of the so-called "Garessina," in fact, right on the foothills of the valle Mongia , the Slow Food Community of the Guardians of the Chestnut Groves of the Ligurian Alps was born a few years ago, a true point of reference for the revival of chestnut groves for fruit and the revalorization of chestnut farming in general.