The Iron Way
Steel and mining sites over the centuries
The "Iron Route" is a thematic itinerary to discover the iron and mining sites that characterized the territory of the upper Morobbia Valley until the early 18th century. The Via allows visitors to discover exciting evidence of that era, such as the spectacular ruins of the Maglio and the Carena furnace, the mysterious mines and the demonstration charcoal pile. The trail then plunges into the striking alpine environment of the Giumello Alp and through a rare mountain pine forest reaches the forest area of Giggio. The thematic trail starts from the square of the "Iron Route" in Carena, where the memorial statue and the first thematic panels are located, and touches on all the points of interest related to the iron mining and processing activities that interassected the upper valley in the second half of the 15th century and at the turn of the 1700s and 1800s. Thus it is possible to visit the remains of the Carena Maglio and Furnace, brought back to light after almost two centuries of neglect, the two Valletta mines rediscovered in 2005 (inside guided tours only) and the demonstration charcoal pile.
The hike allows not only to learn more about this activity of the past, through the thematic panels scattered along the route, but also to immerse oneself in the exciting alpine landscape of the upper Valley, also touching on the themes of alpiculture at the Giumello alpine pasture and reforestation, which occurred in the first half of the last century, in the Giggio area.
The "Iron Route," an integral cross-border route, is a thematic itinerary that retraces the historical routes that connected, via the Tappa Motto or Cima Verta (2078 m a.s.l.), the Morobbia Valley with the Lombardy Cavargna and Albano valleys and between them the mining and iron and steel sites. Important vestiges of ancient iron and steel activities are preserved in these places: settlements, charcoal pits, post stations, and routes connecting areas of extraction (quarries, mines), processing (blast furnaces, forges, water hammers), and product sales.
