Mergugno: in the yellow forest

The Sacred Forest of Mergugno is unique in Switzerland. The mountain laburnum, a small tree that reaches a venerable age, grows abundantly here. It deeply permeates the atmosphere of the place, especially between May and June with its large, highly fragrant golden-yellow flowers.

A quarter of an hour from the Brissago Post Office, passing through the hamlet of Incella, after a series of hairpin bends you reach Monte Mergugno. Leaving the car at the parking lot at the end of the road, continue on foot along a marked path towards "Al legn, Ghiridone." About twenty minutes later, you find yourself in a beautiful meadow with rhododendrons and solitary laburnums, magnificently standing out against the slopes of Ghiridone.

At flowering time, between May and June, this place is a mecca for botanists and nature admirers. The spectacle of the cluster flowers of the mountain laburnum, yellow and fragrant, is truly unique. But the main attraction is yet to come. Another twenty minutes and indeed you admire the most impressive specimens, wrinkled, cracked, cavernous, twisted. These are great individuals, homes to nature’s demons, some on the ground in very slow decomposition. The places invite slow walking. The forest scenes are unique, and the view over Lake Maggiore is magnificent.