Hike from Zambana Vecchia to Rifugio El Cason

On a Saturday morning in late March, we undertake this short but demanding hike from Zambana Vecchia to Rifugio "El Cason". Arrived in Zambana Vecchia, we park our car near the marvellous, recently restored church of which we can only the belltower from here. As we approach the pedestrian subway however, the view of the church gets better and once we crossed it, we can finally admire this sacral building in its wholeness.

We continue to the church and take the path to the Val Manara, leading to rifugio "El Cason". The initial section of this itinerary runs along the old remains of the historic village of Zambana which was almost completely destroyed by a landslide in 1955.

We cross the stream descending across the valley which flanks our path almost for our entire hike. The ascent is challenging, however, our efforts are rewarded by the marvellous panorama on the area below: Lavis, the course of the Adige river and the valley floor. Although we are only in March, it is already a hot day and we refresh ourselves in the gelid water of the stream.

After an hour and a half of walking we reach rifugio "El Cason" (still closed at the time of our hike), where we have a picnic in the picnic area while admiring the stunning panorama. Eventually, from here you could walk along a forest path to Fai della Paganella... but for today we are done. After a short break we return to our starting point.

Author: EC