Croveo and the Glacial Potholes

Croveo
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How to get

By train: Domodossola station, Ferrovie dello Stato. Timetables: www.trenitalia.com
By bus: from Domodossola bus for Baceno, on the Line Domodossola – Cascata del Toce. From Baceno Line Prontobus Baceno – Alpe Devero, stop Croveo Centro Timetables: www.vcoinbus.it
By car: Motorway A26 in direction for Gravellona Toce, from here SS33 of Sempione, pass Domodossola and take for Valle Formazza, you will soon reach Baceno, follow direction for Alpe Devero and you will reach Croveo.

About

“ I do not believe there is a region in the Alps more classical, to admire and study the potholes of the waterfalls of the  Devero valley in Ossola. The “caldaie di Croveo”,boilers of Croveo represent more potholes with a depth of perhaps thirty meters, admirably smoothed by the water that rushes into the void under a natural arch, formed by two huge boulders that are supporting each other above the abyss...”. (Alessandro Malladra, in Il bel Paese, from Antonio Stoppani, 1908)

You can easily reach the place along the nice mule track leaving from the center of the village of Croveo. An old stone arch bridge recently secured, and a metal ladder allow to access to a panoramic point where you will have a breathtaking view of the waterfall and the potholes.

A local legend is connected to this bridge, probably born to  instill in children a sense of fear and caution in areas exposed to accidental falls, telling of an evil entity, the “rampign”, able to drag into the abyss the unwary that leans too much over the railing suddenly grasping him with his grappling hook.

Other potholes are visible from the Baulina Bridge, just downstream of the town of Croveo, just a few minutes following the track that starts from the junction indicated along the road. The ancient lever wine press for pressing grapes and the beautiful parish church of the seventeenth century dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin, complete the visit of Croveo. The memorial statue of Don Antonio Ruscetta, the priest “viperaio” of Croveo, the vipers’hunter priest, is right in the churchyard, in the place where he taught young people of Croveo about capturing reptiles that were then sent to the Istituto Sieroterapico of Milano.