Butterfly trail and Monte Castellaro

The starting point is not far from the railway station, walking up along Via Michelangelo to the first bend, you’ll see a villa with a gigantic araucaria tree in its garden that towers above the perimeter wall.
The route starts from here: take the cobbled path on the right, marked by two filled red diamonds, which heads up towards the Conchetta region with a sharp initial bend (trailsign ). 

Beyond a colourful votive shrine dedicated to Our Lady, you cross the paved road: the route gradually leads away from the houses and continues on between strips of land. Shortly afterwards, you arrive at the old hamlet, which surrounds the Madonna delle Grazie Church: a characteristic alleyway leads up to the small square in front of the church building, passing by an old wash-house with a fountain.
Continue along the paved road that climbs steeply to the ridge of the Due Vie region, with the village of Moglio always in sight on the left.

At a carob tree, take a left turn and shortly afterwards take a right onto a cobbled path, which continues uphill, crossing characteristic steep sloping layers of arenaceous rock and then on into the countryside following a paved path for a short distance. Once you cross the carriageway again, continue along the ridge trail (marked by ), with a splendid panorama to the right over the valley of Rio Cardellino, surrounded by unkempt groves where a few varieties of hackberry grow amongst the old olive groves. 

You’ll come out onto the pavement, follow it to the left, passing a renovated tower house and immediately afterwards, the ruins of the”‘Palazzina”. Walk along the carriageway for about 400 metres, shaded by impressive elm, downy oak, hackberry and Aleppo pine trees; after which you head uphill to the right, along a path through dense bush that leads back to the road at a sharp bend. 

You turn right and come to the village of Vegliasco, where you leave the path marked by the two red diamonds on the left and continue straight on, passing through a sort of portal. The paved road heads up through a tall forest: at the first fork, turn left, then take four sharp bends, until you reach an altitude of 415 metres, where you leave the road to go onto a wide dirt track to the right (indication: Sentiero delle Farfalle ) that heads up towards the upper valley of Rio Cardellino, cutting across the green slopes of Poggio Scotteri and Monte Pisciavino. The “Sentiero delle Farfalle” (Butterfly Trail ) leaves the dirt track, heading uphill along a track to the right; at an altitude of 470 metres, just after crossing some reddish weathered sandstone rocks, follow the path to the right (red and white CAI signpost), which initially goes down into a blackthorn grove and then continues on a slope through mixed woodland.

When the view widens, you’ll find in front of you an enchanting amphitheatre surrounded by the Castellaro and Bignone mountains, with the upper houses of Solva visible in the lower right-hand corner.

Continue walking, bypassing on the left the paths leading to the summit and the northern slopes of Monte Pisciavino; immediately afterwards, take a left onto a ridge trail, heading uphill towards some power line pylons: here the panorama is truly wonderful, offering south-eastern views over the Plain of Albenga, the valleys and the Savona coast with the unmistakable outline of the promontory of Capo Noli.

The trail continues first downhill and then on level ground, often walking on the layer surfaces of the marly limestones, until it reaches a noticable outcrop of conglomeratic rocks. From this point, you can continue to the right along the Sentiero delle Farfalle (Butterfly Trail), or leave it briefly to head uphill along a track (arrow marked Monte Castellaro) that leads, with a bit of a climb, to the summit of Monte Castellaro (the name certainly refers to the past presence in the area of a fortified protohistoric settlement of pre-Roman Ligurian populations).

A steep descent leads to Colle Bignone, where you again follow the Sentiero delle Farfalle (Butterfly Trail), taking the first unmarked downhill slope to the right. Once passed an isolated pine tree, turn left at the crossroads below, (Santa Croce-Sentiero Onda signpost and CAI trail sign) and after having walked a few metres on level ground, after a power line pole, head downhill on the path to the right.

The path veers to the left and becomes almost level, surrounded by large Aleppo pine trees and then downy oak trees that survived the wildfires: the view of Alassio, Laigueglia and Capo Mele is priceless.

After passing a house, bypass the path coming from the left and immediately afterwards take a downhill trail to the right (trail sign ). A little further on, leave the Sentiero Onda on the left and head downhill on a cobbled road until you reach the pavement, which you follow to the left.

As soon as you pass a bend, keep going downhill to the left through the olive groves along a carriageway that soon turns into a cobbled path. The track, occasionally shaded by a few carob trees, crosses the paved road twice before reaching the village of Solva. After crossing the road again, you take Via Fugassa and reach the Church of the Santissima Annunziata where you then continue along the mule track to Alassio (Via Modigliani), which leads downhill for about half a kilometre partly on steps and partly on a dirt road, passing first between olive groves and then between houses.

Once you come to the paved road again, turn right and walk for about twenty metres till the upper entrance door of the Al Sole Hotel, to the left of which is a flight of steps that soon leads to Via Mulino del Ponte. Passing under the railway line you finally arrive on Via Aurelia (Viale Hanbury).