Orobie: enjoy its mountains all year round

Orobie park, with its 70.000 hectares, is one of the biggest protected areas in Lombardy.

Here you'll go from the land to the sky, from grass to rocks: the lush valleys of the Brembo, Serio and Dezzo rivers alternates with the top of the mountains, almost 3.000 meters high.

The park hosts a rich variety of biodiversity recognized and safeguarded by the European community. An exceptional testimony of this is the Tree cathedral, on Mount Arera: a building of firs and chestnuts, built thanks to the ancient art of binding. There are 42 beeches that, once grown, will shape a real cathedral.

In the park, guided tours are available, along with tasting, events: all initiatives for anyyone who wants to participate. In the chalets, you can taste D.O.P. cheeses, local dairy products made with traditional methods: formaggelle, Branzi, Taleggio, Formai de Mut and Strachitunt.

To digest all these delicacies, you'll have to walk a lot, and there are enough itineraries for that: a must for those who love uncontaminated territories is Val Sanguigno, where there are animals and vegetables that are still being studied.

Hikers can choose among the more than 1.000km of trails in the park. The most well- known are the "Sentiero dei Fiori", a botanical garden on the slopes of the Arera Mountain, 2.000 meters high. Then there's the "Sentiero delle Orobie", also called Anello delle Orobie, more than 160km and a height of 2.100-2.200 meters.

The Eastern Orobie is usually divided up into 8 stops, from Valcanale to Passo della Presolana, and 6 stops in the Western Orobie, from Cassiglio to the Chalet Fratelli Longo in Val Brembana. Each step is characterized by a Chalet that offers beds for the night and food, so that you can decide on how much you want to do and how much you want to rest. If you complete it, you'll cross the Bergamo province from one side to the other, looking at its suggestive landscape!

The chalets of Orobie are managed by CAI. In Val Brembrana the most renowned ones are Benigni, which rises on a beautiful natural balcony; Laghi Gemelli, surrounded by numerous small natural lakes; Fratelli Calvi, in the splendid valley enclosed within the highest mountains of Val Brembana.

In Val Seriana, besides Alpecorte di Valcanale, there's Barbellino, recently refurbished, starting point for hikes up to 3.000 meters. There's also Capanna 2000, close to Branchino Lake.

Among the tops of Val Brembana and Val Seriana, water is the protagonist: more than 1000 alpine lakes surrounding the area! Something you mustn't miss is the Serio Falls in Valbiondione, the highest in Italy and second in Europe. From Piano del Barbellino, three successive jumps, form a highness of 315 meters! Check out the programmed openings between June and October and be a testimony of the water's prodigy!

Orobie in winter time has more than 300 km of ski slopes: Val Seriana, Val Brembana and Val di Scalve are waiting for you with cross-country ski slopes, snow parks, toboggan slopes, bob or ice skating. Where?

Foppolo, Carona, Monte Pora, Lizzola, Spiazzi di Gromo and obviously Colere, where you'll be able to ski in the presence of the Queen of Orobie, Massiccio della Presolana: more than 2.500 meters of rocky limestone, dolomia!