The Giubiana 2009

...E sicome la stabilìss la legg quaranta dal voccént-sesantòtt
che dopo 'l procèss gh'è la lugànega e 'l risòtt,
la sentenza a la fin la pö vess pronunziada:
la Giubiana, stasira, ca la sia brusada!

...And since law 49 of year 1868 decretes
that after the process there is the sausage and the risotto,
the sentence at the end can be pronounced:
let the Giubiana, tonite, be burnt!

(From the Sentence of the Process to Giubiana)

The Giubiana and the executioner

Also this year, as in the last, we went to the folk event of the Giubiana of Canzo, that happens every year on the last Thursday of January.

They stage a process for an old witch (the Giubiana) who symbolizes the evils of the past year. But there won't be any surprise in the sentence: at the end the Giubiana will be judged guilty and so condemned to the stake.
The ceremony opens with the parade of some characters of popular alpine tradition that in procession, brings the old woman to the main square. Once there, the process is celebrated in strict local dialect (so strict that, although a Lombard since several generations, I have a hard time understanding).

Mr. Bentley

Particularly worth mentioning are the words of the first witness for the defense. She asserts that the charges (year by year the bad news: this year the economy, the high rated loans, the increase of unemployment, the wars in the Middle East...) are not, strictly speaking, to be imputed to the Giubiana like a scapegoat, but to ourselves, as constituted matter of this society in which all those evils generated.
The spirit of the event is to accept the past and restart with optimism. The stake of the Giubiana is in fact a propitiatory rite for the year just begun, in the awareness that we are the authors of our own destiny.

The words of the final wills, written by the Giubiana, and read by a loyal friend, the gossip lady of the village, threaten evils also for the next year, and represent the consciousness that it won't be for the propitiatory rite that our future will ever change. So, the stake is the symbol of our acceptance of destiny, but also the commitment to improve. The Giubiana in fact promises to rise just after the stake, to reappear, in one year, as the renewed sacrificial lamb.

After the process, Maddie was excited, but Mr. Bentley (much more shy) was frightened for the confusion and noise. "Fajah, let's go home please" he tells me with that baritone voice (Mister Bentley speaks in American English, often mixed with some Hawaiian Pidgin expressions).
So we preferred to forgo the burning at the stake and the typical risotto with sausage and vin brülé (hot spicey wine) and we went back home.

Mount Tesoro

Mr. Bentley

view along the path

There it goes another weekend as a single guy (R. went for a period to her homeland). Saturday it was a cloudy day, and i used it to make some shopping and some works in the house, which maybe i will tell you about in another post. Ah, and i also planned some other works for the day after.
Yesterday morning i woke up early enough and, as a first thing, i looked out of the window. It was still a little dark, but i could see the sky completely clear, in the crisp air. I decided for a change of program, and all of the sudden i called a family meeting.
"Pack mates, did you see what a beautiful day? What about a hike up to the mountains?" - Mr. Bentley started jumping enthusiastically left and right, and with his baritone voice: "Oh yes, Fajah..." (Mr. Bentley and Maddie call me "Fajah" because... Well, let's not start with digressions... maybe i will tell you about this story another time). "Oh yes, Fajah, let's go hiking, you and me, and leave home the stupid girls. We are boys and we always gotta stick together. Then we could also stop for a beer someplace..." (Mr. Bentley is a little male-chauvinist, actually...) Maddie instead doesn't take me seriously, and, irritatedly swinging her eyes goes: "You are really dumb, Mr. Bentley, Fajah is not serious... Majah is not here, and everybody knows you stupid boys give up soon for laziness and you stay all day with your butts on the couch and a beer can in your hands watching the soccer match." (Majah, obviously, is R.).

Maddie at the peak of the mountain

So i took the floor to clarify. "No, no, i am very serious" i reassured Maddie, who begun to wag her tail: "Fo... fo... for really?!?" "For really!" I tell her, and then, to Mr. Bentley: "we ALL go to make a hike... as for the beer, maybe we can speak about it later". Mr. Bentley, a little deluded, but still excited for the hike: "Mmmmh... mmmmh... stupid girls... okay, Fajah"

So, i decide to give up with the home works, backpack on my shoulders, full water bottle, hiking boots, hiking sticks, GPS and photo camera (Mr. Bentley and Maddie, who go much lighter, always look to me with curiosity in this preparatory stage), and go, for a short excursion, just ten minutes by car from home.

Olginate and Garlate lakes
(bulges of the Como lake, at south of Lecco)

With R. and Maddie (Mr. Bentley was not born yet!) i already made this excursion in a snowy day, following then for a much longer distance on a path that, from south, approaches the southern slope of mount Resegone. This time, with the pack, we were happy with the ascent till the little chapel at the top of Mount Tesoro. In my memory the path was longer, maybe the snow did make it much more difficult.
Walking in the snow is really very nice, and it gives a strong sense of silence and peace. In the fall, instead, colors are really touching, from deep green to yellow and red of the leaves, to the brown of the undergrowth, in contrast to the limpid blue of the sky. This path, following the ridge, has views both on the Adda river valley of Lecco, on one side, and Orobie Alps of Bergamo on the other.

It is impossible get lost. The car can be parked in a little lot next to the hairpin bend (shown on the map). The path to take is well marked with arrows to "Monte Tesoro". After a couple of hundreds yards there is a fork on a mule path. This is the only tricky point (in fact we took the wrong way, ending up at a private property). A left must be taken, but just after the fork there is the start point of the path, a little hidden, towards right. The path is partially in the woods, partially on the rocks, til a first peak, where there is the stick for a flag, then it goes down for few feet and then up again till a higher peak with the little chapel of the Alpine soldiers, the war memorial, a little cemetery and a little heliport for the alpine aids. Time for some photos and back at once by the same way.
At noon we were already back home, and in the afternoon i also managed to make all the works i planned. Efficient eh?

other views of the path

• Total time: 1:42 (about half an hour of walk uphill and twenty minutes downhill plus the rest break)
• Covered distance: 3.94km [2.45mi] (round trip)
• Difference of level: 115m [377feet] (214m [702feet] uphill, 99m [325feet] downhill)
• Altitude: from 1301m [4268feet] to 1416m [4646feet]

GPS track
A: parking at the hairpin bend; B: peack of Mount Tesoro; C: Olginate lake; D: Garlate lake

Strada Régia

View on the lake

Here is another path we hiked some times ago.
On one side i liked it a lot, because it is in the forest and it offest here and there some suggestive lookouts on the Lake of Come (of the best part of it!).
On the other side i don't like the fact that it can be very busy. We didn't actually found a big lot of people, but it is clear that the path, also for the easyness, it is very popular.
We had tried it already some months before, but for some back-ache of mine, we gave up.

Como funicolar railway station can be easily reached by train. We went by car. A suggestion is to leave the car at the parking next to the "Fontanone" (it's a big pitoresque fountain). The fee for that parking is much less than the other parkings of the area (with few euros one can leave the car for the whole day).
It is forbidden, in Brunate municipality, to drive on SUV cars, but i would suggest not to go even with small cars. The roads are very narrow, but the main problem is the parking.
The funicular consists of two wagons that leave contemporarily one from Brunate and the other from Como, at every hours and halves. Their path is, for both of the wagons, on the same rail, which double in the middle to allow them to cross each other.

Pietra Pendula

When arrived to Brunate you walk on the road that, from the steps of the station, goes towards right. After few hundreds yards, after a left turn well signed, you arrive to the ground and finally, after coasting it, there is the start point of the hiking path named "Strada Regia" (="Royal Path").
The path is well kept by the local volunteer service and it doesn't have any big difficulties. It is almost completely downhill, and anyway the slope is never too steep, but it is very long. On the left of the path, from Brunate all the way to Montepiatto, you can enjoy a lot of views on the lake.
About at the half to the path there is a little church, where some benches offer a good occasion for a break.
Once reached Montepiatto follow the indications for the Church, which little square looks like a balcony, hundreds of feet on the lake. All around the square there is a little path to Pietra Pendula, a weird rock that looks like a contest to the gravity forces.
At Montepiatto it begins the descent, kind of steep (and so a little hard), even if on a path well settled with steps. This path takes you to the town of Torno, where you can go back to Como by bus or by boat. We preferred this last option, really more suggestive. The boat stops about every half an hour (the exact time schedule can also be found at the funicular station) and, from Torno, after a couple of stops, you reach Como pier, not far from the funicolar station.

More infos on this path at R's blog

• Time taken: 4:11 (except the boat ride).
• Difference of level (from Brunate to the lake): 581m [1906feet] (the lake is at 143m [469feet] altitude above sea level)
• Covered distance: 28.3km [17.6mi] (excluded the boat ride).

GPS track:
in green the part on the funicolar, in read the hike, in yellow the navigation.
A: Como funicolar station; B: Brunate funicolar station; C: "Strada Regia" path start point; D: Chapel for the break; E: Montepiatto church; F: Pietra Pendula; G: Start of the last steep descent; H: Torno pier; I: Como pier