Please note that itineraries may include roads where motor vehicles are allowed. Authors and trail testers are not responsible for the information contained.

The strada reale (“royal roadway”) from Terme di Valdieri is paved and features wide switchbacks. It is a former military road constructed in 1930 atop the previous route established in 1906. Before this, it was an old mule track. In Terme di Valdieri, we recommend visiting the Valderia Botanical Gardens, which were initially created as a place for guests of the nearby spa to go for walks. Dating as far back as the 1500s, they reached their peak of splendor beginning in 1755. “The Valdieri spa is the richest in healthful waters that exists in the country and perhaps in all of Europe. I truly don’t know if there is another place in which one can find such a great variety of highly effective waters.” (Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, 1855). The area was restored in 1990. The royal hunting lodge was erected in 1868 as a “country home” for Vittorio Emanuele II, who loved to hunt. During World War I, it was used as a military base, and the roof was damaged by fire in the 1920s. It suffered the same fate during World War II, after which it was mostly used as a farmhouse and shelter for cattle that grazed in the area in the summer. In 1993, its roof was again destroyed by fire and the structure was abandoned. Restoration work began in 2002 and led to its current use as a lovely mountain lodge.