Borgata Limonetto

The village of Limonetto develops at the edge of a large grassy amphitheatre that rises towards the Costa del Pianard. in Val Grande, the side valley that opens on the orographic left of the Vermenagna Valley at the height of the centre of Vernante.


Typology Building

Period Nineteenth

Accessibility Yes

Visitable Yes

Limonetto is located about 3 km after the administrative centre of Limone Piemonte set against a wide ridge surrounded by meadows, which in the winter months become part of the Riserva Bianca ski area. Documented from the Middle Ages, the village is characterized by the strong contrast between the rural village to the east and the tourist structures of the Sixties and Seventies to the west; the structures of the Alpe di Papa Giovanni Spirituality Centre, which are the result of the well in advance recovery of several mountain huts, compared to the current tourist trends.

Formerly called Gä, or ford lookout, the toponym is documented from the Early Middle Ages and this area must have always represented a fundamental place of transit since it was located on the route of the ancient Via Romana that went up the valley reaching the summit of Colle di Tenda. Some remains of this ancient road can still be found along the path that from the town of Limonetto goes up towards the basin of San Lorenzo along a mule track known as the Via Romana; in this area research has highlighted the remains of a Romanesque chapel and some functional rooms there.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the village had about 100 residents that decreased to about thirty in the post-World War II years. The fundamental period for the development of the settlement were the years between the Sixties and Seventies, when the small alpine village became the object of a strong building speculation that led to the construction of imposing buildings according to the construction methods already highlighted for the administrative centre. Today the settlement is in fact divided into two sections: to the west the ancient town that develops around the Church of San Chiaffredo with small houses with tin roofs built according to alpine construction schemes; to the east, the modern area is characterized by buildings constructed in the modernist style of the Sixties and Seventies.

Conditions of visit

Accessible by a paved road.
Free access.
From Cuneo take the SP 20R Provincial road towards Colle di Tenda; after about 30 km, pass the eighth bend and take the SP 44 to the right for Limonetto which 1.5 km is far (1288 m).

Improve

Additional information

Bibliography

  • Andrea Levico, Vermenagna e Roya, le valli delle meraviglie , Primalpe 2007, pp. 134 135.
  • AA.VV., Le valli tra i parchi Marguareis e Alpi Marittime. Gesso, Vermenagna, Pesio, territorio della Bisalta , PiùEventi 2018, pp. 187 188.
  • Pier Giorgio Martino, Escursioni panoramiche a Limone Piemonte , BBEuropa Edizioni 2016, pp. 26 27.

Useful links

limoneweb.com