Valfloriana’s small villages

<p>Houses hanging bravely on the sides of the valley and surrounded by meadows and majestic woodlands</p>

<p>Valfloriana, valley of flowers, owes its name to patron saint St Floriano, although legend would have it that, to save their queen from a witch’s curse its inhabitants agreed to be changed into flowers of all types and colours.</p> <p>The route begins in Casatta, the town's main village. Take the flat road that starts behind the municipal building in Casatta. Where the road goes down slightly, take the path to the right, from which you reach a small capital and an iron footbridge that crosses the Rio di Barcatta. Continue until you reach the concrete footbridge that crosses the provincial road. From here you go up to Barcatta. After passing the hamlet, near the bus stop, we follow the signs for Palù, which we reach by following a path in the woods.</p> <p>Palù is a peculiar cluster of houses built around a fountain and surrounded by wide, even meadows in a natural amphitheatre hemmed in by trees. Behind the hamlet a circular route takes you around the houses along a historic drystone wall. Back at the entrance to the town again the route continues in the direction of Dorà village where the sun is there to welcome you as you emerge from the woods. It is an extremely attractive village with its wide open meadows and views over the valley.</p> <p>Continuing once again, take the footpath that leads to the hamlets of Valle and Casanova. Once in the hamlet of Valle, continue along the path that climbs towards Montalbiano and Sicina, the highest hamlets in the municipality of Valfloriana. We then go down to the valley, parallel to the Rio delle Seghe, and follow the old mule track that leads us to Casanova and then to Casatta.</p> <p>Before returning, a brief detour takes you to Villaggio hamlet built after the 1966 flood to house the people of the villages of Maso and Ischiazza which had been partly destroyed and evacuated.</p> <p>After this detour the route retraces its steps along the old road taken by the traditional Valfloriana carnival procession, an ancient, evocative and meaningful rite.</p>