Via Alta Vallemaggia

However, at the river, the trail turns off the high-altitude variant that takes you into chamois territory, plunging you instead into an Alpine landscape, where goatherds used to skilfully negotiate the ledges between rock outcrops to lead their flocks from one lean pasture to the next—a green landscape now partly reclaimed by flourishing shrubs. The trail then descends into sparse larch woodland and past a farmhouse referred to as "Cascina nuova" on the topographical map for the simple reason that it is slightly less ancient than others in this history-steeped valley of Val di Prato. It then crosses gently rolling pasture land and takes you to the stream that channels the foaming waters of the Campo Tencia amphitheatre. The Rifugio Alpe Fontana, recently restored from the buildings at Corte di Fondo and used as a very spartan refuge, is just a stone's throw away.