Sanctuary of San Besso, from Campiglia Soana

Introduction

Itinerary between faith and nature: the excursion to the Sanctuary of San Besso provides the hiker with the opportunity to visit a valley that is not well known but is rich in charm, history and spirituality.

Description

At Campiglia Soana, leave your car in a large car park opposite the Albergo Gran Paradiso. Before setting off, it is advisable to fill up with water: there are no fountains as far as the sanctuary.
At the end of the car park, after a few minutes you reach the bar that marks the entrance to the private road. Some signposts remind hikers that we are in the middle of the Gran Paradiso National Park and invite them to respect its rules.
After crossing a wooden bridge over the Campiglia stream, the road passes a few hairpin bends and skirts the stream on its orographic left until it reaches the edge of Pian Azaria, where we meet the path that branches off to the right. We enter the larch wood with a series of twists and turns that make us gain height until we reach the Grangia Randonero (1817m, 0h45'). Leaving the grange, we continue along the thinning woodland, crossing the pastures below the Sanctuary, passing near the Rio della Balma stream until we reach the Grange Ciavanis (1876m 1h00').
We now continue along the open pastureland, following the path until we reach the Monte Fautenio: a short descent and we finally reach the Sanctuary of San Besso (2019m, 1h45').
The descent is along the same route as the ascent (0h45').

Curiosities

On 10 August, the annual procession towards the Sanctuary of San Besso takes place: interestingly, a procession from Cogne across the Col de l'Arietta departs on that date.
Tradition has it that Besso was a soldier of the Theban legion who converted to Christianity. After the massacre of Saint-Maurice d'Agaune, the few survivors of the massacre began to wander the mountains preaching the new faith. Bessus followed this path until he was captured and thrown from the cliff of Mount Fautenio, leaving a miraculous footprint on which the sanctuary dedicated to him was built.