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There is a place on this planet where peace reigns supreme. A small valley dominated by the sound of the river, with towering rock faces and dense fairytale woodland, where a thick, soft blanket of moss covers the boulders. A valley only inhabited in summer, offering breathtaking views and a rich history. No, we’re not in a fairy tale world, but in Valle Bavona - a small, roughly ten-kilometer-long side valley of the Maggia Valley, stretching between Cavergno and San Carlo.
Valle Bavona is a valley best explored on foot. A drovers route passes through the twelve hamlets, letting you see with your own eyes the remaining traces of a bygone era in a landscape of extraordinary rugged beauty. Foroglio is, without doubt, the best-known place in the valley. Nestled next to a dramatic 110 m high waterfall, this fairytale hamlet has a certain mystical quality. The Valle Bavona has been inhabited since ancient times. Until around 1500, a stable population lived there, but natural events and the resulting environmental changes gradually made life in the valley more difficult. As a result, the inhabitants settled permanently in Cavergno and Bignasco and used Valle Bavona only during the summer months from then on. Hence the tradition of transhumance here: the seasonal movement of livestock and people from the valley floor to the mountain pastures. Valle Bavona is now a popular destination for hikers in search of peace and breathtaking views.
Although the people of the Bavona Valley found the land very inhospitable and unyielding, they still got the most out of this valley. 70% of this 124 km2 of mountainous territory is unproductive: boulders and rocks are everywhere and only 1.5% of the total valley area is actually cultivable. These extreme conditions, however, forced the inhabitants of the Bavona Valley to be very creative: they made this hostile land their ally by turning the crevices between the boulders into homes, shelters for their livestock and cellars. These are known as “splüi” in the local dialect. Hanging meadows are another typical anthropic feature in Valle Bavona: the inhabitants topped the boulders with soil to create extra arable land. A truly admirable gargantuan effort in response to the scarcity of arable land on the valley floor. The inhabitants of the Bavona Valley now enjoy a simple lifestyle while they escape the heat and the hustle and bustle of life in the city during the summer months.
Three hydroelectric power plants in the Bavona Valley produce an abundance of electricity, yet all the villages here (apart from San Carlo) are still not connected to mains electricity. Many inhabitants have installed solar panels or a centralised natural gas tank. This lack of electricity and the fact that there were no roads until the 1950s have undoubtedly contributed to the preservation of such a traditional rural lifestyle in this valley.
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