This trail presents the fascinating vestiges of wild-hay cutting and of the associated land management practices. Housed in a farmhouse at Odro, the small wild-hay museum is the highlight of the ethnographic trail. The many well preserved elements along the trail are indicative of the meticulousness with which the mountainside was organized to meet the needs of the alpine economy. The farming activities that take place at Odro and the board and lodging facilities available make this tour a model of ecologically sustainable tourism.

Wild hay and ropeways
Odro was one of the main places in which wild hay was harvested. The steep, craggy slopes of Pizzo Vogorno, which are inaccessible to large livestock, were scythed regularly up until the 1950s. The wild hay thus harvested was first stacked and then transported down to the mountain pastures or to the village in the valley below by ropeway. The temporary shelters used by the mountain people who climbed the mountains to cut the hay were called sprügh. This system provided fodder for the livestock all year round. Traces of this activity can still be seen today: abandoned ropeways, ropeway terminals and paved paths. To shed light on the importance of this activity, here is a passage from F. Binda's book I vecchi e la montagna (the old people and the mountains), Locarno 1983: "In the olden days, everybody, without exception, would go and cut hay. They scythed the whole of Pizzo Vogorno: imagine that! [...] When they stopped cutting the hay, the ropeways went to pot. I used to have a ropeway which was 1000 meters long and almost reached Pizzo Vogorno, at an altitude of 2000 meters; then there were various other ropeways all the way up to Costa Piana."

Odro
Odro is a rural settlement perched on the slopes of Pizzo Vogorno at an altitude of 1200-1300 meters, situated between the village of Vogorno (500 m) and Alp Bardüghè (1600 m). It is reached via a steep but easy mountain path which runs along a long ridge separating Valle del Molino from Valle della Porta, passing several hamlets along the way (Colletta, Torlètt, Stavéll and Pidoo). Once used as high-mountain pasture-land in the traditional system of exploiting the alp, Odro consists of four small hamlets (Técc Fond, Ticc Zòtt, Sert and Cim'al Prov). Odro's ancient origins are evidenced by a large rock featuring cup-shaped engravings situated at the centre of the hamlet of Ticc Zòtt and by the dates found on some of the buildings (seventeenth and eighteenth centuries).

Access
The trail begins close to Ristorante Pizzo Vogorno.
Since there is a shortage of parking on site,
we recommend getting there by PostBus
You will need to get off at Vogorno
(Ristorante Pizzo Vogorno)

Board and lodging
Rural tourism establishment
at Odro run by J.-Louis Villars
6632 Vogorno, tel.: +41 (0)91 745 48 15
www.odro.ch

Information
Tourist Office of Tenero and Valle Verzasca
6598 Tenero, tel.: +41 (0)91 745 16 61
www.verzasca-tourism.ch

Museo di Val Verzasca
6637 Sonogno, tel.: +41 (0)91 746 17 77
www.verzasca.com/museo