The Törle hut

“From the Billeraut I take the route of the Barental, into the wood along an old road. (…) Every few metres I find a memory. From Luka we could see our village, now the wood has closed the view, but I see it like it was at that time. After a short climb here is the Luka kiosk where, after the First World War, on Sunday we danced and drank beer in a clearing into the wood. And there we can still see the deep trenches where in 1918 the British soldiers fought. Further on the right we find the remains of a small field hospital, and then the little slope of the Metarust; here, in the shade of a big fir, the loggers took a break. After about three kilometres from the starting point we find the English Cemetery, where the snow on the large stone cross and on the tombstones gives an infinite sense of peace. And further, the little statue of the Virgin Mary, which commemorates one of our comrades knocked down and killed, in the last century, by the timber that he was loading in his wagon. At the Pria dell’Acqua there are the stones of two partisans who died in combat in September 1944, and the gentle slope of the Fornasa recalls the place where stones were cooked to extract the lime. We go up to the crossroads of the Path of the Partisans, and then, with slight and short bends, we arrive at the small refuge of Croisle, for loggers and travelers: DATUR HORA QUIETI (“May you be allowed to rest”) is etched in the stone upon the door. From here, climbing a little more, we arrive at the Langabisa and we can join with the paths from Cesuna, or return for the Kaberlaba, or for Törle.”

From “La Gazzetta dello Sport,” January 24, 1997

The context

Rigoni Stern frequented these places since boyhood, in the spring pushing to the pastures of Granezza to pick narcissuses with his friends. In the summer instead he gathered firewood in the woods of the Municipality, and in autumn he went hunting. Upon returning from the war, in the winter, sometimes he went there at night, through long stretches with skis in search of his lost serenity, in contact with the woods and nature. These woods are crossed by the young protagonist of “L’anno della vittoria” (The Year of Victory), and later by his family, in the harrowing stories of the early returns to the village destroyed at the end of the war, and again in the episode of the Giacomo and Irene’s trip to Pra’ del Giglio in “Le stagioni di Giacomo” (“The seasons of James”).

The itinerary

The entrance to the road of Barental.

It is ideal for mountain biking, as well as cross-country skiing, but the central part of the route is praticable by car as well. Start from the intersection on the main road to Bassano, about a kilometre after the hospital and before the golf course. After less than 300 metres, where the road bends to the left, going straight you take the route of the Rogation, which leads to the evocative glade of the Lazzaretto, and from here to Pöslen (see itinerary) and the Kaberlaba. On the route described by Rigoni Stern you continue instead along the main road for about two and a half kilometres up to the crossroads of Pria dell’Acqua, going beyond the English Cemetery. From here, leaving to the left the road toward Granezza (see the Mazza itinerary), continue straight ahead towards the mountain huts of Törle and Boscon, from which you can easily reach Cesuna or Canove. From Törle you can take a road closed to cars that leads, after about one and a half kilometres, to the interesting Museum of the Water and to the Kaberlaba. Mario loved to travel the road of Barental, and then to retrace it backwards, “because the descent is sweet, through a marvellous wood, without effort.”