With Valentine's Day just past, why not celebrate with a stroll along the "Path of Love" between Lusiana and Conco? This simple yet enchanting trail combines art and nature, weaving through forests, meadows, ancient hamlets, and cattle tracks, offering hikers unique views and landscapes.
Artworks, quotes, and stories intertwine along the path, inviting those who traverse it to pause and admire statues, read sweet poems, or simply stay silent and listen to the awakening nature during this season. The trail, with an elevation gain of 250 meters and a length of about 6 kilometers, can be completed in just over two hours. It begins at the square of Santa Caterina, a hamlet of Lusiana-Conco. For convenience, you can leave your car in the ample parking lot near the cemetery, where the famous gnocchi festival takes place during the Ferragosto week.
The trail is well-marked, thanks to special wooden signs with metal hearts along the entire walk, and offers two variations: the traditional "Path of Love" and the "Path of Love and Surroundings," a longer 16.5-kilometer route that extends to Mount Xausa, touching the villages of Cassoni, Turchia, and Cunchele.
Hikers are prompted to choose at the beginning of the route at the former school of Santa Caterina: if opting for the shorter 6-kilometer path, continue straight towards the localities of Piazzetta, Cenzi, Pozza, Soster, and Conte with their stone houses, interesting details of ancient architecture, and votive capitals. After a few hundred meters, turn right and, after crossing the bridge over the Grabo stream, keep left, following the paved road to contra' Xilli. Here, turn left again and walk among the houses. Soon, you'll reach the first of many locations dedicated to different aspects of love: love and joy, platonic love, love of memories, gypsy love, and ironic love. Here, in particular, you can linger on a finely carved wooden bench to read a passage from William Shakespeare's comedy "Love's Labour's Lost."
Continuing the walk, now slightly uphill, you enter the woods surrounding the localities of Pozza (where the longer trail joins) and Conte, marked with quotes and artworks. Climbing and crossing the peaceful provincial road connecting Lusiana to Conco, at some points turn right towards the locality of Abri-Sassi and its vast pastures, where you can enjoy a splendid panorama of the Conco village.
Following the path, you'll arrive directly in the center of the charming contra' Cortesi, where you can admire the ancient stone portico. After crossing the small square, walk towards Ronchi through the meadows until you emerge in Conco, on via Reggenza Sette Comuni, right next to the Cortese bakery.
Here begins the descent along the side of the asphalt road. Turning left at the intersection, take contra' Brunelli, where the former Italian-French military cemetery is located. At the crossroads, keep right, continuing along the road until you reach the sign indicating the left turn into the woods towards contra' Gonzi. This leads to a real balcony with an unforgettable view of the southern slope of the Plateau of the Seven Municipalities, the Santa Caterina village, and its church, where a Sacred Thorn is preserved—a wooden fragment that was part of the crown of thorns worn by Jesus, revered by the locals.
At this point, you can either continue along the asphalt road of contra' Comarini, which, in three hairpin bends, brings hikers back to the center of Santa Caterina, or follow the signs of the "Path of Love," which ventures a bit further into the woods and eventually reconnects to contra' Xilli and the cemetery parking lot.
You can reach Santa Caterina by car from Crosara, taking provincial road 71, or from Fara and Salcedo through provincial road 69 to Lusiana.
(Gdv, domenica 11 febbraio)