Sentiero del granito (Itinerario del granito rosa)

The Sentiero del granito, also called the Sentiero dei Picasass, is a heritage route associated with Baveno's stonecutter quarter and the quarries of Monte Camoscio. Worked stone blocks and photographic panels interpret the quarry trade.

Why it matters

Baveno pink granite was among the best-known Graniti dei Laghi, shipped from the mid-nineteenth century across Europe, the Americas and East Asia, and worked by generations of picasass, the dialect name for quarrymen. The trail presents that history in the landscape, linking the stonecutter quarter with the quarries; Granum museum provides an indoor account of the same industry.

What to notice

Interpretive elements include stone blocks at different stages of working, illustrating splitting, squaring and dressing, and photographic panels depicting historical quarry work. The quarries of Monte Camoscio lie in the landscape between Baveno and the Mottarone.

Context and history

The trail is the latest act in Baveno's long reappropriation of its granite identity. The official granite history records the golden age of the picasass in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the quarrying dynasties of the Adami, Bernasconi, Cirla, Della Casa, Galli, Polli and Tamini families, and Nicola Della Casa's industrial revolution from 1874 — mechanical processing, steam-driven polishing, chamber blasting and export offices on two continents. Street names through the lower quarter — via Cave, via degli Scalpellini, via del Granito Rosa — still narrate that economy, and the trail binds them to the working landscape above. The portal situates the territory within the Sesia Val Grande UNESCO Global Geopark and its partnership with the Ecomuseo del Granito of Montorfano.