Gioele heads towards the summit of Mount Carza

Starting from Cannobio you can quickly reach Cannero by following the main road along the lake, which offers you some enchanting sceneries, like the view over the castles of Cannero. Once you get in Cannero you have to leave the main road and follow the signs towards Trarego-Viggiona. The climb is steep but constant, always around 9%. After 9 kilometers you reach Cheglio (796 m), where the road will get flat for a few meters, allowing you to get your breath. Past the first houses, you'll have to turn right again, following the signs to Piancavallo. The road enters the woods and gets narrower and more twisty, but the slope won't get any gentler.

After getting out of the woods, there is a short flat section, where you'll meet a bifurcation. Follow the gravel road that starts on the right, and when you'll get to another bifurcation head left. After less than one kilometer of softer climb you should get to the pass (1100 m), where you'll meet the path that heads down to Cannobio. But before starting the descent it's worth visiting the summit of Mount Carza. You can quickly reach it by following the trail on the right, which is almost completely rideable.

The last meters are the toughest ones

On the summit there is a nice view over the center and southern part of the Maggiore Lake, especially over Luino and the Travaglia Valley, that lie on the other side of the lake. The descent is on the opposite side, towards the north. After getting back to the pass, you have to take the small path that enters the wood, following the sign to Pra Rotondo. The path is partly rough, but almost completely rideable, and leads to the pastures of Pra Rotondo (900 m), then it gets into a thicker wood of beech. Fast and smooth sections with bumps and turns between the trees alternate with very steep and rough sections, and will lead you to another pasture (650 m), where you will meet a gravel road.

Near Pra Rotondo

An alternative to the path is the nice downhill track that some anonymous benefactor patiently designed through the woods. This track begins right after the pass, on the left of he path, and you can recognize it by the ramp build with an old door. You go down keeping on the left of the path, on a fast and challenging track with some jumps that you better skip, unless you have a downhill bike... The track finally merges into the path, but in some places it's hard to follow it, especially in autumn and in winter, 'cause dead leaves and a labyrinth of fire trails will try to make you loose the right way. If you get lost, remember that Cannobio is somewhere north... But in case you're not sure as of where you're going, you should rather stay on the path, which is harder to loose because it is marked.

View over Cannobio from the thick wood

Once you get to the second pasture, the easiest way to go on and reach Cannobio is to drive down the gravel road. A harder but more interesting solution is however to keep following the marked path. The first part is relatively easy, but after crossing the gravel road a couple of time, you head left and the descents gets harder. You'll also have to ride along a small and bumpy river, but if you have good technical skills you should get though this challenge without too much problems. This way you will quickly get back to the paved road and you will reach the first houses of Cannobio.