Join us on an exclusive journey with journalist Maurizio De Matteis from Dislivelli magazine as he captures footage and shares his firsthand experiences for the upcoming BeyondSnow video narrative. Travel with Maurizio as he ventures into the heart of our pilot areas, like Monesi di Triora, in the Ligurian Alps, uncovering the essence of alpine life.
On Sunday, July 28, and Monday, July 29, we embarked on a mission to Monesi through passes, hills, and wild roads to capture video footage in the pilot area of the Municipality of Triora.
The Municipality of Triora and its hamlet, Monesi, are not far apart in a straight line, but the road connection is long and rugged, a legacy from a time when the Maritime Alps were traversed on foot and municipalities were carved out mule-step by mule-step. We start from the meadows of Monesi, which rise from 1,400 meters to the ridge above 2,000 meters, marking the border with France—a freeride paradise for summer mountain biking and in-between seasons, or skiing with skins in winter, and sometimes even heavy snow in spring.
We are accompanied by Mirko Nava and his colleagues, mountain bike instructors and great experts of the area in both summer and winter. From the Monesi hamlet, we ascend the basin while the bikers ride their mountain bikes, and we gather footage. Along the route, the Tre Pini chairlift, built by the Province of Imperia in 2008 on private land and out of operation since 2016 due to a landslide that blocked the road to Monesi for 4 years, still stands out. During this time, the land use contract with the property expired, and since the road reopened in 2020, the lift remains idle. This existing infrastructure could be a great asset for revitalizing the area from a ski-only focus to year-round outdoor activities. The municipal and provincial administrations, supported by associations and sports clubs, are working towards this goal. Mirko believes in it and, together with his colleagues, works on maintaining and recovering the trails, while the number of foreign biking groups increases. Hikers, bikers, and adventurers coming from the Via del Sale already animate the valley under the watchful gaze of the Cristo Redentore, erected a few meters from the top of Saccarello, the symbol of the Brigasque community.
After the excitement and adrenaline of the alpine meadows, we head down to Triora, the village of witches where the Inquisition Tribunal pursued dozens of women suspected of witchcraft. We are welcomed by Giacomo Oliva, a young tourism assessor, who tells us about a vibrant reality that, in addition to promoting the history of witchcraft and esotericism, offers high-quality hospitality, showcasing everything from Mediterranean white cuisine to artistic gems of the village, such as the 1300 painting by Sienese painter De Bartolo, canyoning along the Argentina river, and many other unique features of the mountain municipality just an hour from the sea.
