Day 11: Travel by train & bus to Rodi & walk to Faido. Travel by train to Lavorgo & walk to Giornico. Travel by bus & train to Bellinzona (MAPS 3 & 4).
After breakfast they headed to the railway station of Airolo (1141m a.s.l.), which is the highest railway station of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) (BAHNHOF AIROLO). There they boarded the "Treno Gottardo" to Faido. In Faido they changed to a bus and got off at Rodi "Dazio Grande".
The "Dazio Grande" is a building from the middle of the 16th century. It served as customs house for goods, transit traffic, hoarse-changing station, guesthouse, hostel and warehouse until 1803, the year when the Ticino became part of the Swiss Confederation. It remained in operation, until the Gotthard railway line was inaugurated in 1882. Nowadays, it is still open for the public as a museum and provides a rustic restaurant and overnight accommodation (DAZIO GRANDE).
From there they started their hiking, which took them along the "Via Gottardo Süd", passing by the two most impressive gorges ("Piottino" and "Biaschina"), which are shaping the landscape of the upper Ticino, and ending by the village Giornico.
Day 11: Travel by train & bus to Rodi & walk to Faido. Travel by train to Lavorgo & walk to Giornico. Travel by bus & train to Bellinzona (MAPS 3 & 4).
After breakfast they headed to the railway station of Airolo (1141m a.s.l.), which is the highest railway station of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) (BAHNHOF AIROLO). There they boarded the "Treno Gottardo" to Faido. In Faido they changed to a bus and got off at Rodi "Dazio Grande".
The "Dazio Grande" is a building from the middle of the 16th century. It served as customs house for goods, transit traffic, hoarse-changing station, guesthouse, hostel and warehouse until 1803, the year when the Ticino became part of the Swiss Confederation. It remained in operation, until the Gotthard railway line was inaugurated in 1882. Nowadays, it is still open for the public as a museum and provides a rustic restaurant and overnight accommodation (DAZIO GRANDE).
From there they started their hiking, which took them along the "Via Gottardo Süd", passing by the two most impressive gorges ("Piottino" and "Biaschina"), which are shaping the landscape of the upper Ticino, and ending by the village Giornico.
Day 11: Travel by train & bus to Rodi & walk to Faido. Travel by train to Lavorgo & walk to Giornico. Travel by bus & train to Bellinzona (MAPS 3 & 4).
After breakfast they headed to the railway station of Airolo (1141m a.s.l.), which is the highest railway station of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) (BAHNHOF AIROLO). There they boarded the "Treno Gottardo" to Faido. In Faido they changed to a bus and got off at Rodi "Dazio Grande".
The "Dazio Grande" is a building from the middle of the 16th century. It served as customs house for goods, transit traffic, hoarse-changing station, guesthouse, hostel and warehouse until 1803, the year when the Ticino became part of the Swiss Confederation. It remained in operation, until the Gotthard railway line was inaugurated in 1882. Nowadays, it is still open for the public as a museum and provides a rustic restaurant and overnight accommodation (DAZIO GRANDE).
From there they started their hiking, which took them along the "Via Gottardo Süd", passing by the two most impressive gorges ("Piottino" and "Biaschina"), which are shaping the landscape of the upper Ticino, and ending by the village Giornico.
Day 11: Travel by train & bus to Rodi & walk to Faido. Travel by train to Lavorgo & walk to Giornico. Travel by bus & train to Bellinzona (MAPS 3 & 4).
After breakfast they headed to the railway station of Airolo (1141m a.s.l.), which is the highest railway station of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) (BAHNHOF AIROLO). There they boarded the "Treno Gottardo" to Faido. In Faido they changed to a bus and got off at Rodi "Dazio Grande".
The "Dazio Grande" is a building from the middle of the 16th century. It served as customs house for goods, transit traffic, hoarse-changing station, guesthouse, hostel and warehouse until 1803, the year when the Ticino became part of the Swiss Confederation. It remained in operation, until the Gotthard railway line was inaugurated in 1882. Nowadays, it is still open for the public as a museum and provides a rustic restaurant and overnight accommodation (DAZIO GRANDE).
From there they started their hiking, which took them along the "Via Gottardo Süd", passing by the two most impressive gorges ("Piottino" and "Biaschina"), which are shaping the landscape of the upper Ticino, and ending by the village Giornico.
Day 11: Travel by train & bus to Rodi & walk to Faido. Travel by train to Lavorgo & walk to Giornico. Travel by bus & train to Bellinzona (MAPS 3 & 4).
After breakfast they headed to the railway station of Airolo (1141m a.s.l.), which is the highest railway station of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) (BAHNHOF AIROLO). There they boarded the "Treno Gottardo" to Faido. In Faido they changed to a bus and got off at Rodi "Dazio Grande".
The "Dazio Grande" is a building from the middle of the 16th century. It served as customs house for goods, transit traffic, hoarse-changing station, guesthouse, hostel and warehouse until 1803, the year when the Ticino became part of the Swiss Confederation. It remained in operation, until the Gotthard railway line was inaugurated in 1882. Nowadays, it is still open for the public as a museum and provides a rustic restaurant and overnight accommodation (DAZIO GRANDE).
From there they started their hiking, which took them along the "Via Gottardo Süd", passing by the two most impressive gorges ("Piottino" and "Biaschina"), which are shaping the landscape of the upper Ticino, and ending by the village Giornico.
Day 11: Travel by train & bus to Rodi & walk to Faido. Travel by train to Lavorgo & walk to Giornico. Travel by bus & train to Bellinzona (MAPS 3 & 4).
Day 11: Travel by train & bus to Rodi & walk to Faido. Continue by train to Lavorgo & walk to Giornico.
Travel by bus & train to Bellinzona (Maps 3 & 4).
After breakfast they headed to the railway station of Airolo (1141m a.s.l.), which is the highest railway station of the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) (AIROLO BAHNHOF). There they boarded the Treno Gottardo to Faido. In Faido they changed to a bus and got off at Rodi "Dazio Grande".
The "Dazio Grande" is a building from the middle of the 16th century. It served as customs house for goods, transit traffic, hoarse-changing station, guesthouse, hostel and warehouse until 1803, the year when the Ticino became part of the Swiss Confederation. It remained in operation, until the Gotthard railway line was inaugurated in 1882. Nowadays, it is still open for the public as a museum and provides a rustic restaurant and overnight accommodation (DAZIO GRANDE).
From there they started their hiking, which took them along the "Via Gottardo Süd", passing by the two most impressive gorges ("Piottino" and "Biaschina"), which are shaping the landscape of the upper Ticino, and ending by the village Giornico.
Figure 55: Treno Gottardo passing over the "Piottino" gorge
Figure 54: Former mule track "strada urana" through the "Piottino" gorge
The "Piottino" gorge (Figures 54 and 55) separates the northern upper valley "Alta Leventina" from the middle part "Media Leventina". The gorge, which is approximately 150m deep, used to be a difficult obstacle to overcome on the Gotthard transalpine route. Therefore a special planning for road and railway construction was required, by building bridges and helical tunnels. In the "Prato" tunnel trains travel a perfect rotation. This historical route belongs to one of the most interesting sections along the Gotthard transalpine route. The gorge defined the border between Swiss and Milanese sovereign territory (PIOTTINOSCHLUCHT).
​
From the "Piottino" gorge they followed a narrow path through a mixed broad leaved forest (Figure 56) and were impressed by the beauty and diversity of nature which is found in the Ticino.
Figure 56: Hiking track to Faido
Vegetation was quite different between Airolo (1141m a.s.l.) and the lower located Rodi (940m a.s.l.). Vegetation was quite different between Airolo (1141m a.s.l.) and the lower located Rodi (940m a.s.l.). While in Airolo large coniferous forests were predominating, here a continuous shift from a cold-climate into a more warm-loving vegetation, with oak, pine and chestnut groves is existing.
They reached Faido, approx. 4.5km walking distance, after about two hours.
Figure 57: The village of Faido from the "Lüs eletrica" (left picture) and hotels from the belle époque (right picture)
The village of Faido (Figure 57) was due to good road access a favored holiday destination of the Milanese bourgeois and aristocracy in the 19th century. In 1913 tourism experienced a peak, where an overnight stay in Faido was more expensive than in St. Moritz. There are several hotels and villas from the belle époque, which refer to the glorious past, however most of them are nowadays inhabited (FAIDO; Figure 57, right picture).
​
Faido also offers a great natural wealth and is therefore a favored destination for nature and adventure lovers. The "Piumogna" waterfall (Figure 58), which has a height of 43m, is one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the Canton Ticino and the landscape surrounding the waterfall shows a beautiful and unspoiled vegetation. The water catchment area of the "Piumogna" waterfall was used in 1889 to produce electricity for light "Lüs eletrica" (Figure 57, left picture) by means of hydroelectric power and belongs to the first electric installation in the Ticino (FAIDO).
Figure 58: "Piumogna" waterfall
The group reached it through a path in about 15 minutes walking time. The waterfall was imbedded in a magnificent nature. A short break was just the right thing to do. Beatrice and the water lovers went for a very short swim in the ice cold water. From the waterfall they returned back to the village of Faido, where they went for a lunch break at the café bar "Pedrini" located in the heart of the village
(Figure 59). The break was welcomed by everyone.
Figure 59: Village center of Faido with the café bar "Pedrini" in the yellow building
Refreshed and strengthened they took their train to Lavorgo and then continued their walk along the "Via Gottardo Süd " direction to Chironico (approx. 2.5km).
The village of Lavorgo is located in the bottom of the "Media Leventina" valley, at the northern end of the "Biaschina" gorge.
The "Biaschina" gorge separates the middle part of the "Leventina" valley from the lower part "Bassa Leventina".The "Biaschina" gorge is like the "Piottino" gorge an intense narrowing of the "Leventina" valley with a very steep downward gradient. The "Biaschina" gorge has been a further obstacle in the planning of traffic technology to overcome the transalpine route of the Gotthard. The railway line can now overcome the gorge by means of two helical tunnels ("Pianotondo" and "Travi"; GOTTHARDBAHN)
and the highway by means of an immense viaduct (LAVORGO; Figure 60).
Figure 60: View to the "Biaschina" gorge with an immense highway bridge crossing the gorge and the railway line using a complete rotation within the mountain
The walk to Chironico went through a marvelous chestnut forest "La Selva castanile di Nivo", which is under nature protection (LAVORGO). The pretty little village Chironico impressed them with its characteristic stone houses (Figure 61). Giovanni felt at home, because it reminded him of the village, where he grew up in North Italy.
Figure 61: The village of Chironico
From Chironico they continued further direction to Giornico (approx. 4km). Along their hiking path they had a magnificent view over the lower "Bassa Leventina" valley and admired the achievement of traffic technology (Figure 60).
Their path went again through a dense vegetation of broadleaved forest, where there were quite a number of large rocks in between (Figure 62), which are a result of the postglacial-prehistoric "Biaschina" landslide (BIASCHINA BERGSTÜRZE).
Figure 62: Trees growing between large rocks
The hiking track was similar to the rock fall area they had already visited in Goldau. There were also quite a number of narrow paths and they took care not to miss the yellow sign marked with "Sentiero", which means hiking trail.
Giornico is famous for its memorial "Battaglia dei Sassi Grossi" (Figure 63), which took place in the year 1478. The battle was an important event for Switzerland, where the Swiss defeated the Milanese and achieved thereby the control over the St. Gotthard pass (GIORNICO).
Figure 63: Memorial "Battaglia dei Sassi Grossi" in Giornico
From Giornico they took the bus to Bodio and changed from there to the train to Bellinzona. Upon arrival they collected their luggage, then headed to their overnight hostel "Ostello Montebello".
The "Jugendstil" building is part of a huge villa under monumental protection. It used to be a private boarding school for young girls until the beginning of the 1990ties. Just behind the youth hostel they could see the impressive crenelled wall of the "Castello di Montebello" and will be part of their visiting program for the next day.
Thanks to the central location of the hostel they could reach the historic city center in just a few minutes by foot. It was dinner time and they were all very hungry and headed to the city center for dinner. In a small side street, behind the "Castel Grande", they found the "Locanda Ticinese". The restaurant is famous for its traditional Ticinese dishes and Mediteranean cuisine, they looked forward to taste a homemade "Gnocchi" à la Ticinese (GNOCCHI), followed by a delicious cappuccino and tiramisu. After dinner they strolled through the "Piazza Collegiata" and soon it was time for bed. It had been quite a long day!