Varzi and the Calanchi

The medieval village of Varzi, in the Oltrepo Pavese, is a pleasant place to buy the varzi salami (at km 0!) And take a trip, always walking on beautiful paths between the hills, especially to the surprising gullies of nivione.

Different hiking itineraries depart from Varzi, including the partisan path. Those who have the car can actually move to the hamlet of Ponte Crenna or directly to Nivione to approach the most beautiful woods and the gullies, but we have opted to make a ring starting from Varzi, partly illustrated by some indications found on the internet. From Varzi to Ponte Crenna, in fact, there is no path and passing along the way, unless you want to walk the Greto of Staffora Torrent (feasible depending on the amount of water present!).

Before arriving in Ponte Crenna we have waded the stream (barefoot) and we got there between woods and cultivated fields towards two tiny and picturesque fractions made of stone houses: Caposelva and Casa Bertella.

Here the landscape is very bucolic and there are several chestnut trees, nuts and fruit trees.

Up to Caposelva and Casa Bertella you can get along a narrow driveway (unmarried) or cutting on the trails, while at Casa Bertella you will definitely abandon the asphalt and from the top of the town you go into the woods on a dirt mistreated.

Following this itinerary we arrive so suddenly at a hill beyond which there is no longer the forest, but a series of strange formations, such as steep canyons excavated in the gray land: they are the nursing gulles.

We arrived on a foggy day, which gave the gray landscape an even more tetra and fascinating atmosphere. Walking on the gullies, you realize that these enhancements are earthy, and not rock: a hard and compact land, but still friable.

From the Calanchi you can continue in a few minutes up to Fontana di Nivione, in Nivione itself and at the Casa del Partigiano, Rifugio dei Partigiani during the Second World War that gives the name to the PARTIGIANI path.

The return can take place on the same route if you have a car in Ponte Crenna; Otherwise, to get to Varzi, after Casa Bentella you can continue first on dirt road and then on the paved road to Varzi (shortly traffic).

In October you can scroup some walnut and collect chestnuts along the route.
The walk is very quiet and in three hours you can do everything, less than deviations. The landscapes are relaxing and if it were not for the nivion gullies it would be a excursion that is far from memorable. The gulles make this trip one of the most surprising in this part of the Apennines.

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