At the headwaters of the Po

Prologue

We would have liked to have done it, this trip along the Po River, more than 30 years ago, a liberating experience after high school graduation, but instead we went from the boards to less heroic vacations. The plural in this case applied to three: Gianni, Stefano and Francesco, neighbors of the bench and so much more. When we finally decided to stick to that resolution, it was of the "now or never" variety.

There's no doubt that descending the Po is a rite of passage, but it's one thing to do it when you're nineteen and quite another to kiss your wife and children who look at you puzzled as you get into the car with two other boys from the days of yore. As post-high schoolers it would have been backpacking and adventuring; as 50-year-olds it was tight negotiations, starting with finding each other to talk about it. The first meeting saw us converge toward Desenzano sul Garda from Lombardy, Tuscany and Veneto, respectively.

Sitting at a café in Porto Vecchio, the unanimity was first and foremost on undergoing a propitiatory ritual to ingratiate ourselves with the Great River. Moral, before we started our descent we should have paid homage to the source, but not the trip to the Pian del Re that everyone does, are you kidding? Rather, the circumnavigation of Monviso, lest it be said that we took it lightly. In two words, the meaning of the decision. Why they call it 'King of Stone' is soon clear: 3841 meters of granite rising like a pyramid over the profile of the Cottian Alps. But above all, as far as we are concerned, Monviso is the mountain that sees the birth of the Po. What awaits us, then, is a preview worthy of so much river.

We read, "The Alta Via del Monviso, accompanied by a blue-white trail marker, is a loop itinerary divided into four stages, the longest of which is estimated at 8 hours of walking. The start takes place at the head of the Po valley, then climbing to the Quintino Sella refuge (m 2649), the first in a series of refuges on Italian and French territory. Much of the trail takes place within the perimeter of the Po River Park and the Parc Régional du Queyras."