Stra' Granda

In 1553, the Anzasca Valley was visited by Joachim de Annono, a “man of substance” and official of the Spanish governor of Milan. He is a man of power who comes to check if the villagers of Anzasca are able to pay the exorbitant Mensuale tax. He stays in the valley for 14 days and, upon his return, writes a precise and documented report. It is the first description of the Strà Granda, which rises from Piedimulera to Macugnaga and then climbs the steep mountain path of Monte Moro, leading into the Saas Valley. At the center of his journey is the medieval road of the Anzasca Valley: "...I find that this valley has very little or almost no flat land, and is about sixteen miles long, narrow between the high mountains, through which a large torrent named the Anza runs, descending from a glacier mountain, which is permanent at the bottom of this Valley, and then increases in volume, said Riale, from many Rials that descend from here and there from these mountains, and upon entering this Valley, one ascends a mountain for about a mile, then finds the straight road built in the mountains, about a yard and a half wide, and in that place more or less, very high and steep;..." This road, following the path of Joachim de Annono 400 years later, can still be traversed today. On the worn cobblestones that mark its bends lies the history of the valley, not the Great History but the humble and hidden one of muleteers heading to Switzerland or villagers descending to the market in Vogogna to stock up on grains. The polished cobblestones of each bend have witnessed the furious village wars and the passage of loads of gold descending to the cities. Walking on the Strà Granda of Anzasca means embarking on a journey through time along a historical path of intra-valley communication. Above Piedimulera is the oratory of San Giovanni Nepomuceno, significantly a protector against drowning and floods (also from slanders!); in Mezzamulera, famous for hemp weaving, there are special recesses in the wall for loading mules. At Cà Turnal, an anvil, a pair of tongs, and a hammer engraved on a stone slab represent the Ghibelline crest of the Ferraria faction, one of the parties that bloodied Ossola in the 16th century. Then the community ovens for collective bread baking a few times a year, the consortium presses for squeezing the grape pomace (a small masterpiece of rural engineering is that of Morlongo), the mills and grinders for walnut oil extraction. There are hundreds of artifacts of peasant material culture scattered along the Strà Granda, which becomes the thematic route to understand the alpine civilization that developed among these mountains. And, at the head of the valley, the imposing eastern face of Monte Rosa, two thousand meters of rock and ice, the only wall of Himalayan dimensions in the Alps. An anomalous valley, with two cultures (the Walser and the Romance), that preserves a high degree of naturalness and an ancient harmony between man and environment.