Moghegno and its grà

This interesting trail testifies to the importance of the chestnut in Ticino. In the past, the chestnut was the main foodstuff, which is why the chestnut tree was also called the bread tree. There were a lot of chestnuts between Moghegno and Lodano. To preserve the chestnuts for winter, they were dried for four weeks over the fire in the grà, a small stone cottage used to dry the chestnuts. The dry chestnuts were packed in linen sacks and beaten against a tree stump. The women of the village then freed the chestnuts from the broken shells and processed them further into flour, depending on what was needed. The path winds through the narrow streets of Moghegno, a village with a still very rural appearance. Many of these houses date back to the 17th and 18th centuries and in 1994 the remains of a Roman cemetery were excavated here. An exciting journey into the past to learn more about the people of this valley and their traditions.