Wednesday September 17th

Corvara, San Croce and Ranch Hut

Having transferred to Corvara with an early taxi, we were keen to make good use of the day and so set out on an afternoon walk from Badia, the village close to Corvara. 

We took the bus and then walked up to the Santa Croce Lift Station, which transported us up to the San Croce chapel in two stages. The chapel is a remarkable sight, perched high in the mountains and we realised that we had stayed in the Rifugio next to in on one of our hut-to-hut walks.

Santa Croce chapel
(Rifugio to the left)

The chapel is a great starting point for an amble along Path #15 and we remembered the spectacular views from our rifugio window.

View from Santa Croce

Following signs for Armentara, we descended into woodland with occasional stations of the cross, other holy objects and then the most verdant alpine meadows, complete with contented cows, basking in the sunshine.


I struggled with Google's attempts to translate the plaque:


ChatGPT was much more helpful, with the following:

Here’s the text from the image (it’s written in Ladin, a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in parts of the Italian Dolomites):

La storia de chësta crusc nes conta de reconziliazion.
Gesù, tó es l’amur de Chel Bel Di, por nos devenć persona.
Dan dal sën de tùa santa crusc te prei:
Déidene vire y mori da persona reconziliada.
— Vesco Ivo Muser

And here’s the English translation:

The story of this cross tells us of reconciliation.
Jesus, you are the love of that beautiful God,
who became a person for us.
From the sign of your holy cross I pray to you:
Grant me to live and die as a reconciled person.
— Vesco Ivo Muser

As ever, the views were fantastic, including that of the Marmolada.

The Marmolada

Eventually we reached Ranch de Andre which had the most awe inspiring views of the mountain peaks and we rested here for a bit, enjoying a drink. The route down began soon after the Ranch, descending on gravel tracks through to the meadows to the hamlet  of Cialaruns. 

Fabulous views on the way to Ranch de Andre

We were watched at Ranch de Andre...

From here, we kept following the signs for Badia along a sometimes rocky path, until a sealed road led us to the village of San Leonardo and back to the lift station and the bus back to Corvara.

A walk of six miles with 130m ascent and 800m descent.



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