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In September 2010, a small group from our association embarked on a journey to Santiago, starting from Saint Jean Pied de Port. It was an unforgettable experience that brings emotions and leaves a mark on everyone who undertakes it: you are never alone, surrounded by people of all ages coming from all over the world. It’s a slow form of tourism that traverses territories that have found their identity and purpose again thanks to the Camino. Some walk alone, while others prefer to do it in company. There are many motivations, but there is only one destination:Santiago de Compostela
Walking without a destination, just because it’s good for you, is not fulfilling.
A year later, during one of our excursions on a path in the Turin hills, we met a cheerful group of young people led by a priest from the Salesian Oratory of Valdocco, who was guiding them from Turin to Cascina Moglia in Moncucco, replicating what Don Bosco had done with the boys of the same oratory a century earlier. It was this encounter that symbolically gave birth to the Don Bosco Trail, with a project supported by Strade di Colori e Sapori (Roads of Colors and Flavors), which led us to identify over 215 km of trails in over 4 years, install about 2000 trail markers, and compile the bookGuida del Cammino Don Bosco, in 2016, complete with a map, involving dozens of local operators. The trail includes 9 stages, 3 variants, 2 connections, and 4 other itineraries related to Don Bosco.
The ASD Nordic Walking Andrate relies on a Technical Scientific Committee of the Cammino Don Bosco, composed of: Ute Erika Ludwig (President of ASD NW Andrate), Elena Di Bella (Manager of Rural and Mountain Development Sector of the Metropolitan City of Turin), Elena Comollo (Councillor for Promotion of the Territory and Tourism of the Municipality of Chieri), Claudio Baldi, Paolo Deluca, Daniela Fassino, and Paolo Vitagliani (Hiking Environmental Guides), Gianpaolo Fassino (historian, University of Eastern Piedmont), Cecilia Garetto (cultural mediator), Laura Agosti (landscape architect), and Alessandro Piccioni (information architect).
Just as it happened with the Camino de Santiago and the Via Francigena, the Don Bosco Trail – as demonstrated in recent years – can become a formidable tool for the promotion and economic valorization of the territory, contributing to the maintenance of the trail network and the preservation of the environment and landscape.
“Ero uscito solo per fare una passeggiata ma alla fine decisi di restare fuori fino al tramonto, perché mi resi conto che l’andare fuori era, in verità, un andare dentro. In ogni passeggiata nella natura l’uomo riceve sempre molto di più di ciò che cerca.”
John Muir,
Scottish engineer, naturalist, and writer
who dedicated his life to the defense and conservation of nature
Agronomist and walker, hiking environmental guide, and Nordic Walking instructor since 2006. Founder of the Amateur Sports Association Nordic Walking Andrate and director of the Nordic Walking School in Andrate, he conceived the Cammino Campus®. Author of several publications on the valorization of the territory and hiking networks, including: the Atlas of typical products of the province of Turin (2003), the Tourist guide of the Andrate Nordic Walking Park (2006), the Guide to the trails of the Chiaverano landscape (2007), the Percorsi cicloescursionistici delle Strade di colori e sapori (2011), the Territorial guide of Carmagnola (2015), Cammino Don Bosco. Hiking guide with a map (2016), Inseguendo Cavour – excursions in the footsteps of Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour (2021) and the (rings) Anelli del Cammino di Don Bosco(2022, Nr. 9 maps).
Born in Germany, she holds a degree in languages and pedagogy. After studying and working in France, Spain, and England, she has been living in Italy for several decades. She is a German teacher, translator, and interpreter in companies, schools, and the University of Turin. She developed a strong vocation for photography and ceramics. As the owner of a Bed & Breakfast in Moncucco T.se, she has been practicing Nordic walking since 2009 and has become an instructor of Nordic Walking at the ASD Nordic Walking Andrate, of which she is currently the President. She is the author of the Cammino Don Bosco. Guida escursionistica con cartina (2016) and the(rings) Anelli del Cammino di Don Bosco (2022, 9 maps).
The Nordic Walking Andrate Association, the first Nordic walking school in Italy founded in 2007, organizes weekly Nordic walking courses and excursions. In collaboration with the Local Health Authorities (ASL), it organizes and manages the Cammino Campus® in Carmagnola, Ivrea, and Rivarolo Canavese, and the AgriCampus of the Cammino® delle Colline Torinesi in Pecetto T.se, with the patronage of local administrations. In addition to sports activities, it promotes cultural initiatives and develops and implements trail recovery or valorization projects, including the trail network of the Andrate Nordic Walking Park, the Don Bosco Trail, the cycle and hiking circuit of the Roads of Colors and Flavors, and the Rivarolo Canavese river path.
AA.VV. Carissimo Oratorio Valdocco, Scuola Grafica Salesiana, Torino, 2009
Animagiovane, Guida ai luoghi di Don Bosco, Elledici, Roma, 2014
Baldi Claudio, Atlante dei prodotti tipici della Provincia di Torino, Hapax editore, Torino, 2003
Baruffi Giovanni, Passeggiate nei dintorni di Torino, Stamperia Reale, Torino 1853
Bosco Giovanni, Memorie dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di Sales. Dal 1815 al 1855 , Istituto Storico Salesiano di Roma, Roma, 1991
Candelo Luigi – Occhiena Diego, I sentieri di Mamma Margherita, San Giorgio Editrice, Genova, 2006
Deambrogio Luigi, Le passeggiate autunnali di Don Bosco per i Colli Monferrini, Istituto Salesiano Bernardi Semeria, Castelnuovo Don Bosco, 1975
Fassino Giampaolo, A Vezzolano negli ultimi due secoli. Percorsi di visita tra sacro e profano, Centro Studi Piemontesi – L&M I Luoghi e la Memoria, Torino, 2007
Fassino Giampaolo, Villastellone. Percorsi di storia e memoria della comunità , Parentesi Graphica Carmagnola, 2022
Francesia Giovanni, Don Bosco e le sue passeggiate autunnali nel Monferrato, Libreria Editrice Salesiana, Torino, 1901
Ghivarello Riccardo, Don Bosco Santo e Pino Torinese, Soc. Ind. Graf. Fedetto e C., Torino, 1934
Peinetti Silvana, A spasso lungo il Po, arabAFenice, Cuneo, 2011
Pro Natura Torino Onlus, Sentieri della Collina Torinese, Carte e guide descrittive nn.1 (Torino 2004), 2 (Torino 2007) e 3 (Torino 2013)
“Immaginiamo un prato verde un po’ scosceso, con arbusti e piccole rocce, colpito dal sole ancora caldo di settembre tra le colline della provincia di Asti; un gruppetto di ragazzini con i pantaloni corti si tirano per la camicia, fanno capriole in mezzo all’erba, ridono e schiamazzano. Immaginiamo di sentire ad un certo punto il forte suono di una tromba, i ragazzi si fermano, smettono i loro giochi e fanno silenzio. Compare allora un giovane sacerdote con una lunga veste nera, i capelli castani e ondulati. Prende i ragazzi per mano, li mette in fila ordinata, controlla che abbiano cibo ed acqua a sufficienza, li osserva mentre iniziano a camminare davanti a lui, pochi istanti dopo si unirà al gruppo per chiuderlo”.
from “Memorie dell’Oratorio” of Giovanni Bosco
