Che i politici scendano dai loro elicotteri e imparino a camminare
(Let the politicians get out of their helicopters and learn to walk)
- Paolo Rumiz, La leggenda dei monti naviganti (2007)
The Susa Valley is a crowded place. Not crowded with people - crowded with infrastructure.
The valley has always been an important corridor for travel between Italy and France - which is, after all, precisely why we are here, following the ancient Roman Via Domitia. This is most likely the route travelled by Hannibal in 218 BC, with 38,000 infantry soldiers, 8,000 cavalry, and 38 elephants, only a handful of which survived the crossing. In 118 BC, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus began the construction of the Via Domitia road to the pass. Julius Caesar first came this way when he was appointed Proconsul of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul in 58 BC, returning several times during eight subsequent military campaigns. Once the various mountain tribes had been subdued, Cottius, an ally of Caesar’s, went about building a bigger and better road; the Via Cottia per Alpem began in Turin and passed through Susa (Segusium), Oulx (Villa Martis) and Cesana (Gadaone or Gaesao), ascending the gorges of Claviere.
The Mongenèvre pass has been an important crossing point ever since, and nowadays, this means that we have a railway line, a motorway, and two smaller local highways all squeezed into a narrow valley - as well, of course, as the river that created it! As if this weren't enough, construction work is currently under way on a new rapid railway line. The goal is to move freight traffic across the Alps by rail rather than truck in order to reduce CO2 emissions and air pollution, while also providing faster passenger transport as an alternative to travelling by air. Worthy goals, perhaps, but since the project was first announced in the 1990s, the people of the 112 towns and villages along the proposed route of the new line have been protesting against this massive and expensive mega-project, supported by many more people from all over Italy. The movement known as No TAV, for its opposition to the Treno Alta Velocità, questions the worthiness, cost, and safety of the project, and its ability to make a concrete contribution to reducing net carbon emissions when the construction and maintenance work and the cooling of the tunnels are taken into account. They deem the new line unnecessary, outrageously expensive, and driven by the greed of the construction lobby. Not to mention harmful to the mountain environment and disruptive of the underground water supply system.
More information on the No TAV movement and its activities may be found at this link (in Italian).
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| "Alta Voracità" |
The part of the valley that we walked today might be divided into two completely different halves, with the town of Chiomonte as the boundary. The pictures above were taken in the afternoon, whereas the part we walked in the morning was exactly the opposite - perfectly quiet and very green. We passed by the Roman amphitheatre and climbed a steep hill with a fantastic view of the town of Susa below.
We followed the trail through a forest in shades of green so intense it was almost unnatural. The tops of the mountains around us were shrouded in cloud, with tiny villages clinging to their slopes and a deep river gorge below.
Descending on the other side, we stopped for a break at a picnic table in a small park before continuing through a grove of magnificent chestnut trees, on a dirt road scattered with big, fat fallen chestnuts.
We missed a turn on the Via Francigena, but checked the map and realised that our route would actually take us to the same place, faster. We walked on dirt roads and grassy tracks through a bucolic landscape of pastureland, passing a flock of sheep and a herd of cattle. Then we followed highway SS 24 on a dedicated cycling and footpath protected from the highway traffic on the way into the town of Chiomonte.
I had a mission in Chiomonte: to go to the post office and mail back to the Convento Boutique Hotel in Susa a rebellious key that had worked its way off the keychain and hidden in a deep corner of my trousers pocket when I handed over the keys to the receptionist at check-out. Having accomplished the deed, we attempted to follow the Via Francigena route out of the town but couldn't find the path through the woods suggested by the gpx track. Though looking for it gave us a good opportunity to investigate the side streets and alleyways of Chiomonte!
We eventually walked down the hill on a paved road and joined up with the route shown on the Via Francigena gpx track at the bottom. Here we came up against a "road closed" sign but went through anyway; we could see why the road was closed to traffic, as the pavement was crumbling away on one side, but perfectly safe for passing through on foot. We later learned - from our hostess for the evening - that at one point during the summer that road had actually been blocked off by the police, to disrupt No TAV demonstrations taking place in the area; this caused major problems for people walking the Via Francigena, as that road is the only one with a bridge across the river!
We made our way through, and across the bridge by the hydroelectric plant, and I hope we won't be arrested when someone reads this! 😅
On the other side, we followed a small highway, used only by local traffic to access the power plant and the vineyards along the road; for all other traffic, the highway had been supplanted by the ultra-modern motorway towering above it atop soaring piers of concrete, the bases of which have been painted with street art and graffiti by supporters of the No TAV movement.
After several kilometres this road joined the main local highway, SS 24, where there is more traffic, but not too much, and it travels slowly enough that we judged it safe to walk a kilometre and a half along the highway into Exilles. We were worried about coming up against another closed road or some other difficulty if we left the highway to follow the Via Francigena route, but our hostess in Exilles told us that section is actually fine. In any case, we survived, and the shortcut saved us a kilometre. 😅
We rejoined the official Via Francigena route at Fort Exilles, which is open to visitors but only in summer - Mariella had been there before and reported it was interesting. We continued on through the village of Exilles to B&B Gabriella, where our hostess greeted us with a nice hot cup of herbal tea. We are now almost a thousand metres above sea level, and the air is getting cooler in the evenings!
Susa - Exilles 17 km
+1000 metre elevation gain
