Nature Path - Venzone Small Churches Loop

A walk through the streets of Venzone offers the pleasant feeling of being immersed in an atmosphere of another time. Admiring portals and biforas, you head towards Porta San Genesio, the exclusively pedestrian east exit, from which you can observe the imposing city walls built in successive phases from the 13th to the 15th century. After crossing the moat, you take via S. Caterina and after a short uphill stretch, leave the paved road to take a gentle path on the left that climbs the slope among hazels, honeysuckles, hornbeams, maples, and lindens. Up the route some boulders show interesting karst phenomena caused by the dissolution of limestone by water: their surface has some small cavities and is marked by more or less parallel grooves separated by tiny ridges. Well-preserved dry stone walls flank the path; among the cracks grows the little and charming fern asplenium, while various moss species decorate the surface of the stones.

Shortly, you reach a small shrine dedicated to Saint Anthony, from which the route proceeds flat under a row of hazels, replaced here and there by dogwoods and the spindle tree, a shrub with curious pink fruits with four lobes that, when ripe, show four orange seeds (poisonous). If you proceed quietly, you can spot some roe deer and hear the rhythmic call of the cuckoo, a parasitic bird that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, entrusting them with raising its young. You continue in the same direction for a short stretch until you find a comfortable path on the right going gently downhill; you then leave the straight trail that goes into the Venzonassa Valley and follow this path. After crossing a wide meadow covered with grass dotted with the violet of common sage and the yellow of buttercups, you reach the ancient Church of St. Caterina (15th century); destroyed by the 1976 earthquake, it was rebuilt between 1986 and 1987. The beauty of the place surely deserves a stop. Looking north, besides spotting some buzzards in flight, you can admire the steep southern slopes of Monte Plauris (with Cima Somp Selve on the far left), while the westernmost outcrops of Monte Ledis / Bedede brush the church.

In the area, there are still some traces of medieval fortified structures that ran along the hill slopes until joining the defensive works of the nearby Borgo San Giacomo. The path continues to the right of the small church among lindens, honeysuckles, and hornbeams and after a short steep descent, leads directly behind the church of Saints James and Anna; dating back to the 10th-11th century, it was the first church rebuilt after the 1976 earthquake. Following the road behind the church heading north, on the right you can see through the vegetation the vertical layering of the rock wall above, testimony to the incredible forces that shaped our mountains millions of years ago. Shortly, after passing through the Cjampcjscjel area rich with medieval remains with fortifications and walls, you return to the starting point of this pleasant hike, which with little effort allows discovering a suggestive natural corner just steps from the historic center of this beautiful town.