The Corno alle Scale Loop

Few people know that Bologna has its own mountain, and that it is a real mountain. Corno alle Scale, on the ridge separating Emilia from Tuscany, is the highest peak of the Bolognese Apennines, and outside the brief alpine-skiing season it becomes a world of its own: heaths, glacial lakes, rocky walls and a silence that surprises anyone used to thinking of the Apennines as a tamed hill. Here, instead, the ridge is rugged, windy and broad, and on clear days the gaze reaches all the way to the sea.

The landscape

The heart of the hike is the loop that links the massif's landmark places. A good starting point is the area of Madonna dell'Acero or of Cavone, above Lizzano in Belvedere, from where the trails climb the wooded slopes until they emerge onto the open ridge. As you climb you leave the beech woods and enter the realm of the heath: expanses of bilberries, junipers and low shrubs shaped by the wind, which in late summer load up with fruit and in autumn turn rust-red. It is an almost Nordic landscape, unexpected at these latitudes.

The lake and the summit

The most beloved destination is Lake Scaffaiolo, a mirror of water set on the ridge just beyond the border, in a spectacular and extremely windy position, beside which stands the Duca degli Abruzzi hut, one of the oldest in the Apennines. From the lake you can climb to the summit of Corno alle Scale by following the ridge, touching the viewpoints known as Punta Sofia and Punta Giorgina, which overlook the rocky gullies from a sheer drop. The summit offers a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view over the Apennine ridges, and on the clearest days as far as the plain and the distant Alps. The classic loop lets you climb from one slope, walk the ridge touching lake and summit, and return by a different trail, closing the circuit without retracing your steps.

How to get there

You arrive by car from Bologna, climbing up the Reno valley to Lizzano in Belvedere and its mountain villages, from where the marked trails start. The hiking difficulty is moderate: the elevation gains are those of a real mountain and some stretches of the ridge are steep and stony, but there are no technical passages if you stay on the main trails. It is a route suitable for anyone with a minimum of fitness and legs used to climbing, doable in a day. On the ridge, however, wind and fog can arrive suddenly, and in those open stretches finding your way requires attention.

When to go

The best time carefully avoids winter, when the area turns into a ski resort and the peace disappears. June is splendid for the flowering meadows and the still-cool air; September and October offer the bilberry season and then the foliage of the beech woods, with taut light and few people on the trails. Precisely outside the snow weekends, Corno alle Scale returns to being the silent mountain it has always been, frequented by local hikers and little else. Even on summer weekends, moving away from the most popular lake, you soon find the solitude of the ridge again. It is curious to think that this stern, windy mountain is less than a couple of hours by car from a big city: proximity to Bologna has not tamed it, and you need only shoulder your backpack to forget the plain and its rhythms entirely.

A practical tip: always bring a windbreaker and a warm layer, even in summer. The Corno alle Scale ridge is one of the windiest places in the Apennines, and the weather can change quickly, going from sun to thick fog in a matter of minutes. Set off with enough water, because on the crests there are no springs, and if you go in late summer keep an eye on the bilberry bushes: gathering a handful along the way is one of the small pleasures that make this mountain so special.

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