The best traffic-free bike rides around Tavagnasco

Scenic spot to park to start the hike to Punta Quinzeina

On the shores of Lake Pistono stands the Archaeological Park, inaugurated in 2017, which features a life-size reconstruction of part of a Neolithic stilt village. In 2003, an excavation campaign promoted by the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici del Piemonte had brought to light in the lake waters the traces of a stilt settlement dating back about 6500 years. The reconstruction includes a dwelling, a storehouse, and an animal shelter with an enclosure, built using the techniques and materials of the time — chestnut and hazel wood for the structure, straw and clay for the walls, lake reeds for the roof — and furnished with reproductions of everyday objects: fish traps, axes made of wood and green stone, baskets made of plant fiber. The park can be reached with a walk of about half an hour from the Exhibition Space housed in the municipal palace of Montalto Dora, where the original findings from the excavations are preserved and where thematic panels reconstruct the daily life, diet, and material culture of the village inhabitants. Lake Pistono is one of the five glacial lakes nestled among the morainic deposits of the Serra di Ivrea.

The parish church of San Martino stands in the main square of Carema, the last municipality in Piedmont on the Via Francigena before the border with Valle d'Aosta. It has been documented as a parish since 1261, and its position on the route that Archbishop Sigerico took in 990 on his return from Rome to Canterbury confirms its role as a landmark for travellers and pilgrims heading over the Alps. In Roman times, Carema was the site of a customs post on the consular road to the Gallic provinces, and in the Middle Ages it maintained its function as a transit and toll point between the Canavese region and Valle d'Aosta. The current building is the result of two main interventions: the oldest part, in Baroque style, dates back to 1749 and includes the presbytery and choir; in 1890, the engineer Camillo Boggio radically extended it by building a new nave with an octagonal plan in Romanesque-Gothic style, inspired by medieval baptisteries. The church is over 20 metres high and 36 metres long. Next to it stands the bell tower, built entirely of stone between 1762 and 1769: with its 60 metres of height, it is considered a unique architectural masterpiece of its kind in Piedmont. A short distance away, on Via San Matteo, is the small Church of San Matteo, dating back to 1649 and belonging to the Confraternity of the Santissimo Sacramento, which was responsible for presiding over and accompanying funeral rites.

The Church of Saint Elizabeth can be seen from tens (perhaps even hundreds) of kilometers away. It's the little white dot you see on clear days when looking toward Quinzeina. Reaching it by bike is wonderful, though quite tiring...

An ancient cemetery dating back to the Napoleonic era, abandoned in the 1940s. https://fondoambiente.it/luoghi/cimitero-del-fiorentino?ldc

From the centre of the village you start to climb

In reality, this place is not so "flat" because, from when the slopes become less steep to when the descent begins, there will not even be a hundred meters ... but the environment is superb, high mountain, and makes up for the road that, especially towards Frassinetto, is not in such good condition. There is nothing, not a bar, not a fountain ... but it is worth stopping and admiring the splendid panorama. Going up from Frassinetto the slope, after the village, becomes discontinuous and challenging, more gradual if you go up from Colleretto Castelnuovo, where the road alternates beautiful hairpin bends in the woods ... however, it is not a gift from this side either!

It is a unique place of its kind. In a rather small and circumscribed area 2 steps from the Montalto lake (also called "Rabbit" lake) there is an area with a very dark soil composed of water, peat, earth and medium-sized trees. Especially when the ground is wet or it has rained previously if you jump on the surface, it moves creating small waves making the surrounding trees dance. A real show! You can reach the dancing lands from 2 different dirt tracks. For those with good technical skills the entry or exit paths in both directions are also fun to pedal.