Frequently asked questions

By car you take the SS470 up the Brembana valley to Ambria di Zogno, then the SP27 of Val Serina through Serina: about 38 kilometres from the station and three quarters of an hour without traffic. Alternatively you drive up the Seriana valley to Ponte Nossa and take the SP46 of Val del Riso, which leads to the Colle di Zambla (1,264 m) and descends to the Zambla hamlets: about 50 kilometres. By bus there is Arriva line B, changing at Zogno, from Monday to Saturday.

From Bergamo station it is about 38 kilometres, three quarters of an hour by car without traffic; from the centre of Milan about 88 kilometres, an hour and a half; from Orio al Serio airport about 43 kilometres, around fifty minutes. These are estimates calculated on the OpenStreetMap road graph: the last part is all mountain road and with traffic or snow the times grow.

No. The zinc mines of Oltre il Colle have been closed since 1982 and the tunnels are not open to the public. Their history is told at the Museum of Minerals and Mining in Zorzone, set out on three floors in the hamlet. The nearest show mines you can visit are those of Dossena and those of Gorno, in Val del Riso, with guided tours.

The loop starts and ends at the Capanna 2000 hut, at 1,960 metres on the south side of Pizzo Arera. You get there on CAI trail 221 from Plassa, above Zambla Alta, where the CAI recommends parking, or in summer by driving up to the car park of the old lifts at Alpe Arera, at around 1,600 metres, where parking is paid. Times and season are on the Sentiero dei Fiori page.

The main activity is cross-country skiing: the Pro Loco gives 16 kilometres of tracks at the foot of Monte Alben, accessed from the Passo di Zambla or from Pian della Palla. In the Conca dell'Alben there are also two downhill runs for beginners, and snowshoe walks to Plassa and Capanna 2000 and ski-touring trips on Arera and Alben are popular. There is no ski resort: of the old lifts at Alpe Arera only the car park remains.

According to the ISTAT estimate at 1 January 2026 the municipality has 920 residents, against 932 a year earlier and a historic peak of 1,945 at the 1951 census. At the 2021 census there were 980 residents, spread between the main village (482), Zorzone (193), Zambla Alta (138), Zambla Bassa (86), the small clusters and scattered houses.

There are three hamlets: Zambla Alta, at 1,197 metres, the best equipped for tourism; Zambla Bassa, at 1,060 metres, with the parish church of Santa Maria Maddalena; Zorzone, at 1,016 metres, the mining hamlet with the museum. ISTAT also distinguishes the small clusters of Plassa, Piani Bracca and Vandullo. The elevations are those of the ISTAT censuses; the Pro Loco gives slightly different ones.

In both, in a sense: it is the municipality at the head of Val Serina, which is a side valley of the Brembana valley, and it belongs to the Comunità Montana Valle Brembana. The basin lies on the watershed with the Seriana valley, to which the Colle di Zambla connects it, and the stream that crosses it, the Parina, flows down towards the Brembo.

Yes, Arriva line B from Bergamo, with a compulsory change at Zogno, which reaches piazza Tiraboschi, Zambla Alta and Passo Zambla; from piazza Tiraboschi the S50e shuttle climbs to Zorzone. All services run from Monday to Saturday: on Sundays and public holidays the village is not served. From the Seriana valley some line S50bce services climb from Ponte Nossa to Passo Zambla.

That of middle mountains, with cold winters and cool summers. According to 1991-2020 averages computed from ERA5 reanalysis data, in the main village the average January minimum is about −7 °C and the July maximum about 22 °C, with about 135 frost nights and about 2,000 millimetres of precipitation a year; Zambla Alta, higher up, is a couple of degrees colder. These are model estimates, not station measurements.

From 15 November to 15 April, yes: the ordinance of the Province of Bergamo requires winter tyres or chains on board on provincial roads, including the SP27 of Val Serina and the SP46 of Val del Riso. With snow or ice on the road chains must be fitted if you do not have winter tyres, and the obligation also applies outside that period when it snows.

No. It is an independent tourist guide devoted to the municipality and its hamlets. The municipality's institutional website is comune.oltreilcolle.bg.it, with offices at piazza Monsignor B. Belotti 212 and switchboard 0345 95015; for tourist information there is also the Pro Loco, at via Roma 201, on 0345 95541.

ISTAT puts the village at 1,197 metres above sea level, while the Pro Loco of Oltre il Colle gives 1,150 metres: the houses stretch uphill along the provincial road and the two sources take different points. Either way it is the highest of the four localities of the municipality; the Colle di Zambla, a little further up, stands at 1,264 metres.

No, they are two distinct hamlets of Oltre il Colle, separated by about 2.3 kilometres of road and, according to the ISTAT elevations, about 140 metres of height difference. Until the 1930s, however, they were a single community called simply Zambla, and they still share the parish of Santa Maria Maddalena and Santa Maria Immacolata, reunited in 1986.

At the 2021 ISTAT census the village of Zambla Alta had 138 residents in 64 households, against 151 in 2011. The census counted 509 dwellings in 2021: the great majority are holiday homes, which is why in summer and on winter weekends there are far more people in the village than the registry shows.

In the village there are only small car parks, in via Santella and via Fezzoli. The most convenient spot for the trails is the Colle di Zambla, which CAI Bergamo gives as the car park for Monte Alben and Cima di Grem: OpenStreetMap shows a free public area there next to the bus terminus and a lot reserved for customers of the Al Trapper restaurant.

CAI Bergamo recommends Plassa, in the Camping Arera area, about four kilometres above Zambla Alta. In summer you can drive up to the open area of the old Alpe Arera lifts, at around 1,600 metres, where parking is paid (4 euros according to OpenStreetMap and a 2023 report); in winter the road beyond Plassa is closed and you walk up from there on CAI trail 221.

With Arriva's line B from Bergamo, changing buses at Zogno: the stops are Zambla Alta Albergo Miramonti and the Passo Zambla terminus. In the winter timetable in force from 14 September 2026 to 8 June 2027 all services run Monday to Saturday and several are tied to the school calendar; on Sundays and public holidays there is no service. From the Seriana valley some services of line S50bce climb from Ponte Nossa to Passo Zambla.

It is the best-equipped hamlet of Oltre il Colle: the Pro Loco lists a grocery, three restaurants, three bars, the Edo Sport rental shop, a hotel, two bed & breakfasts and two campsites, plus the B&B and the bars and restaurants at the Passo di Zambla. The pharmacy, bank, post office and petrol station are in the main village, less than five kilometres away.

According to the 1991-2020 averages worked out from ERA5 reanalysis data, the average January low is about −9 °C and the high about 1 °C, with about 155 frost nights a year; in summer average highs are around 20 degrees. Estimated fresh snowfall is about two metres in an average season, but it varies a great deal from one winter to the next. These are model estimates, not station measurements.

Above all cross-country skiing: the Pro Loco gives 16 kilometres of tracks on the slopes of Monte Alben, accessed from the Passo di Zambla or from Pian della Palla. At the Conca dell'Alben there are two downhill runs for beginners, and the area is popular for snowshoeing and ski touring towards Alben and Arera. In Zambla Alta you can rent skis, snowboards, sledges and snowshoes.

CAI trail 501 from the Colle di Zambla: you follow the forest road towards the Passo della Crocetta, climb a gully to the Col dei Brassamonti (1,755 m) and the Passo della Forca (1,848 m) and finish along the north ridge. CAI Bergamo gives about 3.7 kilometres, 750 metres of ascent, 2 hours 15 minutes up and 1 hour 20 down, graded EE for easy rocky steps.

Yes, by car over the Colle di Zambla (1,264 m) and down through Val del Riso to Ponte Nossa: 14.1 kilometres of hairpins with a maximum gradient of 10%. It is the only pass between the Brembana and Seriana valleys crossed by a road for vehicles, very popular with cyclists and motorcyclists at weekends.

Yes, it stands in the woods above Plassa and is always accessible on foot, but it is no longer what the old photos show: storm Vaia in 2018 brought down most of the structure of woven poles and branches, and today the columns that resisted the wind are still standing. The work is by Giuliano Mauri, commissioned by the Orobie Bergamasche Park with the municipalities of Oltre il Colle, Roncobello and Ardesio.

ISTAT puts the centre of Zambla Bassa at 1,060 metres above sea level, the Pro Loco at 1,050: so it is just above the main village, which stands at 1,030 metres, and about 140 metres below Zambla Alta. At the top of the same road the Colle di Zambla reaches 1,264 metres.

At the 2021 ISTAT census Zambla Bassa had 86 residents in 52 households, against 123 in 2011. The census counted 341 dwellings in 2021, mostly holiday homes or in any case without residents.

The parish church of Santa Maria Maddalena, with the paintings by Gian Paolo Cavagna and the Serassi organ of 1799, and the small church of Santa Maria Addolorata with its ex-votos. Outside the churches it is worth touring the hamlets, Cà di Vidài, Vallomi, Cà di Ress, where worked-stone doorways, fountains and buttressed walls from the Venetian era survive.

Just one business: the grocery Da Sofia – Alimentari Tiraboschi. Bars, restaurants, hotels and equipment rental are in Zambla Alta, about 2.3 kilometres further up, while the pharmacy, petrol station, bank, post office and municipal offices are in the main village of Oltre il Colle, about 3.8 kilometres away.

You drive up Val Serina on the SP27 to Oltre il Colle and carry on towards the Colle di Zambla; at the Zambla Bassa junction you leave the provincial road and take via Vidali, which leads to the church and the hamlets. From Bergamo station it is about 42 kilometres, from the main village about 3.8. Those coming from the Seriana valley cross the Colle di Zambla and descend past Zambla Alta to the junction.

Not a timetabled one: Arriva's line B timetable lists Oltre il Colle piazza Tiraboschi and Zambla Alta Albergo Miramonti. On the provincial road, at the turn-off for the village and about four hundred metres from the church, OpenStreetMap maps a stop called «Zambla Alta (bivio Zambla Bassa)» on the route of the same services. Buses run Monday to Saturday, with a change at Zogno.

No public car parks are mapped in the settlement on OpenStreetMap and the streets are narrow. For a whole day it is better to leave the car in the car parks of the main village, at the Piazzale degli Alpini or near via Capriana, or in Zambla Alta and at the Colle di Zambla.

Because between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries Zambla was the richest community in the basin: it lived on livestock and cheese, and in 1587 it obtained separation from the parish of San Bartolomeo by paying an endowment and the upkeep of its own priest. The church you see today, reconsecrated in 1737, with six altars, the Serassi organ and the Cavagna paintings, is the result of that season.

It is the small church of Santa Maria Addolorata, at the crossroads of four old mule tracks, considered one of the oldest places of worship in the basin. It remained privately owned until the 1990s, when its last owner left it to the parish, but it was never closed to worship: the ex-voto paintings on its walls say so. Inside there is a wooden choir in the gallery above the entrance.

Yes, but you need to move by car. Monte Alben is climbed from the Colle di Zambla, a little over three kilometres further up; Pizzo Arera and the Capanna 2000 hut from Plassa and the Alpe Arera car park, both reached by driving through Zambla Alta. In winter the basin's cross-country tracks are joined at the Passo di Zambla or at Pian della Palla.

According to the 1991-2020 averages worked out from ERA5 reanalysis data, the average January low is about −8 °C and the high about 2 °C, with about 140 frost nights a year; in July and August average highs reach 21 degrees. Precipitation is abundant, about 2,000 millimetres a year, and estimated fresh snowfall is about two metres in an average season. These are model estimates, not station measurements.

The Comunità Montana Valle Brembana gives opening on Sundays and public holidays from 15:00 to 18:00 from April to October and from 15:00 to 17:00 from November to March, and from 15:00 to 18:00 from 1 to 20 August, with a ticket of 1.50 euros and free entry up to the age of 12. Hours may change: it is best to confirm with the Associazione Amici del Museo on 0345 95313 or on the number the Pro Loco publishes for the museum, 340 1436747.

About 4.8 kilometres from piazza Tiraboschi, ten minutes or so by car. You leave the SP27 at the Piazzale degli Alpini in the main village and climb the municipal road of via Capriana. From the Colle di Zambla it is about 10 kilometres, because you first have to go down to the main village along the SP27.

ISTAT and the maps give 1,016 metres, CAI Bergamo starts its trails at 1,019 metres, while the Pro Loco writes 1,100 metres and the old provincial tourism portal 1,050. The differences depend on the reference point in a village that is all on a slope: the official census figure is 1,016.

At the 2021 ISTAT census Zorzone had 193 residents in 86 households, against 215 in 2011. Among the hamlets of Oltre il Colle it has the highest share of houses lived in all year round: in 2011 almost one dwelling in three was occupied by residents.

Three CAI trails start from the village: 234 to Cima di Menna (2,299 m), about 1,250 metres of ascent and 4 hours up; 231, which climbs Val Vedra to the Passo Branchino, 3 hours; 259, which descends the wild Val Parina to the Brembo, about 12 kilometres. In the village there is the Museum of Minerals and Mining, with the Lady Irene Memorial.

CAI Bergamo recommends via Colombi for trail 234. For 231 towards Val Vedra it gives via Giorgi, where OpenStreetMap maps the largest car park in the village, and for 259 into Val Parina via Scolari. Those heading into Val Vedra can also drive up to Pian Bracca.

Yes, Arriva's S50e shuttle from piazza Tiraboschi, in the main village, to piazza Caduti del Lavoro in Zorzone, in about 15 minutes. In the 2026-2027 winter timetable there are seven services each way Monday to Friday, one on school days only, and five on Saturdays, with connections to line B to and from Zogno and Bergamo. It does not run on Sundays and public holidays.

The parish church of the Holy Trinity in its present form is the rebuilding begun in 1745 to a design by Giovan Battista Caniana and completed in the following decade; the altar is from 1795, by the Palazzi family. The parish, however, is older: it was founded on 24 September 1636 by decree of bishop Luigi Grimani, and the church of that time was consecrated on 21 June 1644.

It is the section of the Zorzone museum dedicated to those who died in the B24 bomber «Lady Irene», which crashed in 1944 on the Pezzadello, just below the ridge of Monte Menna. It preserves relics recovered from the wreck, including kitchen utensils made at the time from the aircraft's sheet metal.

Not for now. In 2022 the Ministry of Ecological Transition issued a negative ruling on the reopening requested by Energia Minerals, part of the Australian group Altamin. In February 2026, according to L'Eco di Bergamo, the Ministry of the Environment approved, with conditions, the retrospective assessment of the exploration drilling by Vedra Metals, which intends to resume exploration; extraction would require a new authorisation process and a financial backer.

There is no documented etymology in the sources consulted. The Wikipedia article reports as most accepted the hypothesis that the name comes from the Zorzi, one of the historic local families, and as less likely one from «Giorgione», but without citing a source. In dialect the village is called Zùrzù.

The town hall at piazza Monsignor B. Belotti 212, the parish church of San Bartolomeo, the Pro Loco office at via Roma 201 and the services the hamlets don't have: the basin's only pharmacy, the bank with a cash machine, the post office, the only petrol station in the upper Val Serina at the Piazzale degli Alpini, groceries, a butcher, a newsagent, bars, pizzerias and restaurants.

From piazza Tiraboschi, Zambla Bassa is about 3.8 kilometres away, Zambla Alta 4.6 and the Colle di Zambla 5.6, all on the SP27; Zorzone is about 4.8 kilometres, but on a municipal road: you leave the provincial road at the Piazzale degli Alpini and climb via Capriana. Serina, down the valley, is just over six kilometres away.

The Municipality of Oltre il Colle is based at Piazza Mons. B. Belotti 212, 24013 Oltre il Colle (BG). Telephone 0345 95015, email info@comune.oltreilcolle.bg.it, certified email comune.oltreilcolle@legalmail.it. This guide is not the municipality's website: for official documents, office hours and procedures the reference is comune.oltreilcolle.bg.it.

Because it lies beyond a colle, a pass, but the sources disagree on which. The municipality and the historical research of Massimo Maurizio point to the Col d'Anì, the natural boundary with Serina: for the people of Serina the lands of the basin were «oltre il colle», beyond the pass. The old provincial tourism portal had the Colle di Zambla in mind instead, and Wikipedia notes that to reach the village you have to cross a pass from either valley. The Latin name is Ultracollum, the dialect one Oltra 'l Còl.

The church, a parish since 1449 and consecrated in 1780 by bishop Giovanni Paolo Dolfin, holds the Death of St Joseph by Enrico Scuri (1872) and paintings by Vincenzo Angelo Orelli and Francesco Coghetti, a wooden statue by Angelo Virgilio Vavassori on the altar of the Madonna, an organ by Carlo Bossi of 1805 and a peal of eight bells in B2 by the Capanni foundry of Castelnuovo ne' Monti. Its present appearance derives from the restoration and enlargement of 1935 to a design by Luigi Angelini.

The patron is St Bartholomew the Apostle and the feast falls on 24 August. It is the main celebration of the main village; the hamlets have their own churches, the Santissima Trinità in Zorzone – of which the Trinity is patron – and Santa Maria Maddalena in Zambla Bassa.

The municipality has 920 residents according to the ISTAT estimate at 1 January 2026 (932 at 1 January 2025), over 32.89 square kilometres. The historical peak was reached at the 1951 census, with 1,945 inhabitants. At the 2021 census the main village itself had 482 residents; the others live in Zorzone, Zambla Alta, Zambla Bassa, in the small clusters and in scattered houses.

Both in the main village. The petrol station is at the Piazzale degli Alpini, along via Roma, and is the only one in the municipality: according to the fuel register of the Ministry of Enterprises the nearest is in Serina, about 3.5 kilometres away as the crow flies. The cash machine is at the Banco BPM branch at via Roma 377, and there is the Postamat of the post office at via Roma 189.

The largest open area mapped by OpenStreetMap is above via Roma, between via Capriana and via Perletti, near the Piazzale degli Alpini, where there is also a small free public car park. Other spaces are along via Capriana, in via Perletti and in via Litù. For the high-mountain trails you park instead at the Colle di Zambla, at Plassa or in Zorzone.

With Arriva's line B from Bergamo, changing buses at Zogno, to piazza Tiraboschi; the journey takes from about an hour and twenty minutes to almost two hours depending on the wait at Zogno. In the 2026-2027 winter timetable the fixed arrivals are at 9:07 and 20:07 Monday to Saturday and at 12:07 Monday to Friday, with other services tied to the school calendar. There are no services on Sundays and public holidays.

Yes, in winter: according to the 1991-2020 averages worked out from ERA5 reanalysis data, the average January low is about −7 °C and the high about 3 °C, with about 135 frost nights a year. Summers are cool, with average highs of 21-22 degrees in July and August. These are model estimates: a finer reanalysis gives slightly milder winters.

CAI Bergamo grades the itinerary E, a standard hiking route: you need boots and a sure foot on the scree of the Val d'Arera and on the loose descent towards Passo Branchino, but there are no protected sections. The full circuit of the Pizzo Arera on trail 244, which passes the Forcola di Valmora with chains on the south side, is graded EE instead.

About 3 hours according to the Capanna 2000 hut and the G.S. Marinelli, for about 500 metres of total ascent as stated by the hut; Wikipedia gives a little over 7 kilometres. Altitudes stay between 1,821 metres at Passo Branchino and 2,078 metres at the Bocchetta di Corna Piana. Add the walk up from the Alpe Arera car park to the hut, about an hour according to the regional portal, and the walk back.

The Orobie Bergamasche Park names July as the month with the most flowers, while the CAI considers the trail walkable from May to October. In spring crocuses flower on the meadows. Early in the season it is worth asking at the hut whether the north-facing traverse of the 222 still has snow.

At the Capanna 2000 hut, above Zambla Alta. By car you drive up from Plassa to the Alpe Arera car park, at about 1,600 metres, with a €4 ticket bought before the climb at the meters in Plassa or in participating shops; from there the hut is less than an hour away on CAI trail 221 or on the farm track.

The Sentiero dei Fiori is the western loop between the Capanna 2000 and Passo Branchino, on trails 244, 218 and 222: grade E and about 3 hours. The circuit follows the whole of trail 244 round the mountain, via Passo di Corna Piana and the Forcola di Valmora, is graded EE and has chain-protected sections; the CAI gives 3 hours, the hut 5.

A Bergamo botanist who from the 1960s studied the flora of the Arera systematically and identified the stretch between the Capanna 2000 and Passo Branchino as the richest in endemics. In 1987, at the Alpe Arera, he launched the Flora Alpina Bergamasca group, which he chaired until 1999. He died in 2003 and in 2004 the municipality of Oltre il Colle named the trail after him.

The sources present it as an easy loop, suitable even for non-experts, but you walk at around 2,000 metres over scree and down a loose descent: it is fine for children already used to the mountains and wearing boots. The full circuit, with chains on the south side, is not a family outing.

The base is the Capanna 2000, at the start and end of the loop. Halfway round, just below Passo Branchino on the Valcanale side, is the small Rifugio Lago Branchino, which in the 2026 season was open on Saturdays and Sundays in September and October: outside those days, set off with everything you need.

From the Alpe Arera car park VieNormali gives 2 h 30 up for 922 metres of ascent and about 4 hours in all, descent included; Luca Gherardi took about 3 hours. From the Capanna 2000 hut the regional portal allows 1 h 20 to the summit. Starting from Plassa, without the toll road, you reach about 1,300 metres of ascent and 3 h 45 up.

It is an EE climb. Below the fore-summit, at about 2,400 metres, you descend some twenty metres of scree and climb a gully with metal steps and chains, a grade I move. The main risk is slipping on gravel and knocking stones onto people climbing below: in rain, fog or snow it is wise to turn back.

At the Alpe Arera car park, at about 1,600 metres above Plassa, Zambla Alta: the municipality charges a €4 ticket for all vehicles, bought before the climb at the parking meters in Plassa or in participating shops. The road is open in summer and when free of snow; in other months you start from Plassa, where there is free parking near the Camping Arera.

All the Orobie, from the Resegone and the Grigne to the Presolana, by way of Pizzo dei Tre Signori, Diavolo di Tenda, Redorta and Coca; further away Monte Rosa, the Matterhorn, Badile, Disgrazia, Bernina and Adamello. To the south you see Grem, Alben and Menna close by and, on clear days, the Apennines.

The first recorded ascent was on 1 June 1875, by the guide Antonio Baroni and Emilio Torri of CAI Bergamo. The first winter ascent was on 8 March 1879, by Luigi Albani, Giuseppe Nievo and Antonio Baroni again.

On 7 September 1958, at the initiative of the Coca mountaineering club of Colognola. Since September 2018 a commemorative bell has been fixed inside the cross, blessed in Zambla Alta and engraved by hand in the forges of Zorzone.

Yes, all more demanding: the east ridge from the Forcola di Valmora, little frequented; the north route from the Mandrone or Passo di Corna Piana, without chains and with crumbly rock; the west ridge, known as the Cresta della Luna, for mountaineers, with grade II and III climbing.

The base is the Capanna 2000 hut, at 1,960 metres on the normal route, with 25 beds according to the regional portal: sleeping there lets you start early and split the outing over two days. Bookings on 0345 95096.

According to CAI Bergamo 2 h 15 up and 1 h 20 down, for about 750 metres of ascent and 3.7 kilometres of trail 501. Luca Gherardi took about 2 hours and counts 9 kilometres there and back; Gulliver and Wikipedia give 2 h 30.

The CAI grades trail 501 EE for the final ridge: from Passo della Forca you climb over rocky steps with short grade I moves, not protected, and a few exposed passages. Up to the pass the path runs through woods and up a gully of hairpins, without technical difficulty: if you are not comfortable you can stop there.

At the public car park on the Colle di Zambla, at 1,264 metres, on the pass between Oltre il Colle and Val del Riso. From there follow the cross-country track signs towards Passo della Crocetta.

Yes, on CAI trail 502 from via Pineta: 7.5 kilometres, about 1,320 metres of ascent and 2 h 30 according to the CAI, grade EE, recommended from June to October. It passes Passo del Sapplì and the Casere Alte and joins the 501 at Passo della Forca.

Along the 501 there is the Baita Nembrini of the CAI Valserina sub-section, below the Torrione Brassamonti, which according to the OpenStreetMap notes is used with keys, and the small Bivacco del Gioan near Passo della Forca. On the Serina side there is the Rifugio Monte Alben, run by the La Cordillera association.

Arera, Menna and Grem close by, then Resegone, Grigne, Pizzo dei Tre Signori, Pizzo del Diavolo, Redorta, Coca and Presolana; further away Monte Rosa, Disgrazia and Adamello. On clear days, to the south, you can see the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. There is a panorama table on the summit.

Yes, the Maurizio via ferrata on the north side, towards the fore-summit and Cima della Croce. Ferrate365 grades it difficult, with 400 metres of ferrata, about 2 hours from the start of the cable and 4 hours of itinerary, starting from the car park of the Conca dell'Alben lifts.

A primrose endemic to the Bergamo area, recognised as a species in 1993, which takes its name from Monte Alben. It flowers between April and June, between about 1,150 and 2,000 metres.

The shortest way starts from the Alpe Arera car park, at 1,600 metres above Plassa in Zambla Alta: about an hour on CAI trail 221 or on the farm track, for about 400 metres of ascent. Without a car you start from Plassa, 1 h 50 and 900 metres according to the regional portal. From the Seriana valley you climb from Valcanale, and from Roncobello via the Baite di Mezzeno, in about 3 hours.

The 2026 calendar on the Rifugi di Lombardia portal shows the May weekends, 1-2 and 6-7 June and every day from 12 June to 7 September, with dates stated to be indicative. Wikipedia adds weekends and holidays in October and November, and in 2025 the mayor spoke of weekends all year round: outside summer phone 0345 95096.

By phone at the hut, 0345 95096, or on the mobile 339 6986367, or by email to rif.capanna2000@virgilio.it. The regional portal gives half board between €48 and €60, with no year given: confirm the price when booking.

25 beds according to the regional hut register, which also counts 80 seats for lunch and 30 at the outdoor tables; Wikipedia gives 30. Next to the hut there are two Starbox, small wooden cabins 3 metres by 3 for sleeping at altitude.

No: the hut can only be reached on foot. By car you reach the Alpe Arera car park, at 1,600 metres, in summer and when free of snow, with a €4 ticket bought in Plassa; from there it is about an hour's walk. Prima Bergamo notes that it can also be reached by mountain bike from Zambla Alta.

The regional portal presents the hut as suitable for families with children and Luca Gherardi rates the farm track from the upper car park as a family route. It is about 400 metres of ascent and an hour's walk: fine with children used to walking.

It is owned by the municipality of Oltre il Colle and run by the Rizzi family, with Attilio Rizzi named as manager by the regional portal. In 2025 the municipality obtained €181,000 from the Lombardy Region, plus €20,000 of its own funds, to renovate the kitchen, bathrooms, rooms and bedrooms.

The CAI grades trail 234 E, but the figures call for fitness: about 1,250 metres of ascent, 4.8 kilometres, 4 hours up and 2 h 15 down. The final ridge above the bivouac has steep, exposed sections and there is no water along the route.

About 2 h 30 from Zorzone according to Gulliver and Diska, on the direct route up Val Carnera; the panoramic route takes a quarter of an hour longer. From the bivouac to the summit of the Cima di Menna it then takes about an hour.

The bivouac room, on the upper floor, is always open and has a fireplace, a table, benches and a few camp beds for emergencies, without blankets. The Rifugio Palazzi, in the same building, is usually closed and opens at the request of the members of the M.A.G.A. group of Zorzone.

The CAI recommends via Colombi in Zorzone. Other reports mention a large car park at 1,020 metres reached via via Giorgi and a small lay-by at the hairpin on via Menna. Zorzone is reached from the main village by the road beside the petrol station on the SP27.

No. Gulliver and Luca Gherardi report that there are no springs along the route: you must leave Zorzone with water for the whole day; the CAI allows 4 hours up and 2 h 15 down.

On the night of 4 October 1944 the B-24 Liberator Lady Irene, which had taken off from Brindisi on a supply mission for the partisans, crashed just below the ridge, at about 2,250 metres at Pezzadello: ten American airmen and three Italian OSS agents died. A wooden cross marks the spot and since 2016 a memorial in Zorzone has kept its remains.

Yes, on CAI trail 235 from Costa di Roncobello via the Corna Buca, the Baita dello Zoppo and the Vallone gully to Passo del Menna: 4.7 kilometres, about 1,300 metres of ascent, 4 hours up, grade EE for the ridge section.

It is the acronym of the four peaks around the Oltre il Colle basin: Menna, Arera, Grem and Alben. The Zorzone group that runs the bivouac at Passo di Menna bears the name, and so does the Maga Skymarathon, the mountain race that touches all four summits.

About 2 h 30 according to Luca Gherardi, for 750 metres of ascent and 10 kilometres in all there and back: 1 h 20 to the Alpe Corte hut on trail 220, then the 218 across the Alpe Neel pastures. The CAI grades the trails E.

Yes, in two ways. From Zorzone on CAI trail 231 up the Val Vedra: 7.6 kilometres, 850 metres of ascent, 3 hours out. Or from the Capanna 2000 on trail 222, 1 h 15 according to the CAI, after the hour's walk up from the Alpe Arera car park.

As far as the Alpe Corte hut Luca Gherardi describes an easy route, suitable for families with small children too. To the lake the ascent grows to about 750 metres and Gherardi calls it moderate: fine with children already used to mountain walks.

In the pay car parks near the small lake at Valcanale, at Babes, at about 1,050 metres. The daily ticket is sold in the village shops or at the meters; early arrivals also find a few spaces at the start of the path.

According to the Province of Bergamo's study of alpine lakes it is about 130 metres long and 60 wide, with an area of 0.65 hectares and a maximum depth of 2 metres. Its catchment, 13.1 hectares, includes the pastures of the Alpe Nevel.

Yes. The provincial study describes a spring on the shore opposite the outlet, the only visible inflow, and an outflow, a small stream that drops steeply towards the Valcanale and feeds the Acqualina torrent.

Yes: the Rifugio Lago Branchino, a few metres from the lake, open in 2026 on Saturdays and Sundays in September and October; the CAI's Alpe Corte hut, at 1,410 metres on the way up from Valcanale; and on the Oltre il Colle side the Capanna 2000, 1 h 30 from the pass.

The sources do not agree: the Province of Bergamo's study assigns it to Ardesio, Wikipedia places it on the boundary between Ardesio and Oltre il Colle, and the OpenStreetMap boundaries include it in Oltre il Colle. Passo Branchino, just above, is the pass between the Valcanale and the Oltre il Colle basin.

16 kilometres according to the Sci Club Valserina, VisitBrembo and the Pro Loco, from Zambla Alta to Valpiana; the Scuola Sci Oltre il Colle gives 13 kilometres. In 2022 the Sci Club listed three tracks: 5 kilometres blue, 7.5 purple and 13 green.

The section from Zambla Alta to the Crocetta is floodlit for night skiing, according to the Sci Club Valserina and VisitBrembo. The rules published in 2019, however, gave hours of 8 am to 5 pm and banned entry between sunset and dawn: ask the Club about evening openings.

We found no published prices for the 2026-27 season: on 1 October 2026 the Sci Club website could not be reached. The 2019 rules provide for a ticket paid at the track entrance or a personal season pass with a passport photo, and free entry up to the age of ten.

At Edo Sport, via Prealpina 892 in Zambla Alta, about 200 metres from the Colle: it hires complete cross-country ski sets for adults and juniors, also for the whole season, without booking while stocks last. Telephone 0345 95285.

Yes, the Scuola Sci Oltre il Colle, founded in 1981, with 11 instructors teaching cross-country skiing, downhill skiing and Nordic walking, also to pupils with disabilities. Contacts: 350 1230498, info@scuolascioltreilcolle.it.

The Sci Club Valserina publishes the state of the tracks on its website, which however could not be reached on 1 October 2026. The safest way is to phone the Scuola Sci Oltre il Colle (350 1230498) or Edo Sport (0345 95285) before setting off.

No. The Sci Club's rules forbid entering the track on foot, on snowshoes, with animals, on ski-touring or downhill skis, or with sledges and bobs. For snowshoes there are the routes beside the track and the basin's dedicated itineraries.

From the Seriana valley leave the SS 671 at Ponte Nossa and climb through Val del Riso on the SP46; from the Brembana valley take the SP27 of Val Serina via Serina and Oltre il Colle. Waterwind gives 50 minutes from Bergamo and 1 h 40 from Milan on the Seriana side.

About 750 metres according to Luca Gherardi's GPS track, with about 5 kilometres one way and 10 in all. CAI Bergamo, which starts the route from Zambla Alta at about 1,150 metres, gives about 900 metres. The climb takes from 1 hour 45 to 2 hours 10 according to the reports.

No. For winter 2025-26 a municipal ordinance closed the road from Plassa to 1,600 metres to all vehicles from 18 November 2025, with a provisional reopening from 22 April 2026. You park on via Plassa near the Camping Arera; the ordinance for winter 2026-27 has not yet been published.

The contract with the municipality provides for opening at least on Sundays, public holidays and the days before them and over Christmas and Easter, but for 2026-27 there are the renovation works awarded in April 2026, which may suspend the service, and the Rifugi di Lombardia calendar shows the hut closed from September. Phone 0345 95096 or 339 6986367.

It depends on the snow. The road is almost always trodden and ciaspole.net notes that snowshoes may turn out to be unnecessary; they become necessary after a snowfall or off the track. Microspikes are useful on the icy stretches of the road, especially in the morning and on the way back.

Zone 60, Orobie Bergamasche, of ARPA Lombardia's snow and avalanche bulletin. In season the bulletin is updated daily; the first one of winter 2026-27 is announced for 1 December 2026.

Legislative Decree 40/2021 makes them compulsory for anyone on snowshoes in snowy terrain where there are avalanche risks. On the trodden road the danger is low, but anyone climbing on the summer line or in fresh snow crosses open slopes: there they must be carried, and you need to know how to use them.

For fit teenagers yes, for small children hardly: it is about 10 kilometres and 750 metres of ascent with short days. For families the alternative is the almost flat snowshoe walk from the Colle di Zambla towards Pian della Palla and the Conca dell'Alben.

Only with mountaineering equipment and experience: above the hut there is a protected gully and in winter the summit requires crampons and an ice axe. In summer conditions the Rifugi di Lombardia portal gives the summit about an hour and a half from the hut.

At the Colle di Zambla, following the corridor towards Pian della Palla and the Conca dell'Alben. It is the route CAI Bergamo classifies as barrier-free itinerary 104: 5.6 kilometres there and back, 45 minutes each way and 30 metres of ascent, with a maximum gradient of 10 per cent.

Not on the groomed track. Since 20 November 2025 the corridor between the Colle di Zambla and Pian della Palla has been a Nordic ski track run by the Sci Club Valserina: the classic grooves and the skating lane must be left to skiers, and on snowshoes you walk beside them.

About 11 kilometres from the Colle di Zambla: 2.8 kilometres to Pian della Palla, the 5.6-kilometre H21 loop with about 236 metres of ascent, and the way back. For a short outing stop at Pian della Palla.

The municipalities' agreement sets the prices for access to the cross-country track, 8 euros a day in the 2024-26 seasons and free up to the age of 10, without mentioning walkers. Snowshoers stay off the tracks; if in doubt, ask the operator.

At the Colle di Zambla, in the asphalted car park by the Centro Sportivo Valle restaurant indicated by the CAI. Alternatively drive up from Oltre il Colle along via Drago, about 3 kilometres, to the car parks at Pian della Palla.

Not on the valley-floor route, because it crosses no steep slopes. The track does, however, run along the border between zones 60 and 61 of the ARPA bulletin, with the north face of the Alben above: anyone climbing towards the upper basin or the Col dei Brassamonti must read the bulletin and carry transceiver, shovel and probe.

At the Colle di Zambla there are the stone fountain of the Parco del Colle, the Centro Sportivo Valle restaurant and an accessible toilet in front of the Al Trapper bar; at the Crocetta there is a drinking-water spring. In winter the fountain and spring may be frozen.

Yes. The three classic lines are the Pizzo Arera from Plassa di Zambla Alta, Monte Alben from the Colle di Zambla and the Cima di Menna from Zorzone, all on routes marked by CAI Bergamo in summer (221, 501 and 234). None has an official ski-touring description with a published grade.

For the Pizzo Arera and the Cima di Menna zone 60 Orobie Bergamasche of the ARPA Lombardia bulletin, for Monte Alben zone 61 Prealpi Bergamasche. The border between the two runs along the Colle di Zambla and Pian della Palla.

More than 1,300 metres to the 2,512-metre summit, because in winter you start from Plassa at about 1,150-1,200 metres. CAI Bergamo gives about 900 metres to the Capanna 2000; from the hut to the summit the Rifugi di Lombardia portal gives about an hour and a half with a short protected section.

CAI trail 501 ends on a ridge of easy rocky steps graded EE even in summer: with snow and ice it is crampon and ice-axe terrain. There is no official ski-touring description saying how far you can go on skis.

CAI trail 234 measures about 4.8 kilometres for 1,250 metres of ascent, with 4 hours up and 2 hours 15 down in CAI Bergamo's summer estimate. Along the route there is the MAGA bivouac at 2,005 metres.

On via Plassa, in the Camping Arera area, the car park recommended by CAI Bergamo for trail 221. The road to the Alpe Arera is closed to all vehicles by ordinance: in winter 2025-26 from 18 November 2025 to 22 April 2026.

Yes, since 1 January 2022 Legislative Decree 40/2021 has required them for ski tourers, off-piste skiers and snowshoe hikers in snowy terrain where there are avalanche risks. ARPA Lombardia recommends always carrying them.

Yes, a small one: in the Conca dell'Alben there are the Gambacotta–Fornace drag lift and, since 2025, a magic carpet for the ski-school area, run by the Sci Club Valserina. The Alpe Arera lifts above Plassa, on the other hand, have been out of service for more than twenty years and the last pylons were removed in 2012.

In the 2024-26 seasons the agreement set 17 euros for a day on the drag lift, 13 for half a day, 130 for the season and 3 for a single ride; for the cross-country track 8 euros a day and 80 for the season, free up to the age of 10. Prices for 2026-27 have not yet been published.

It depends on the snow and, for 2026-27, on the new award not yet published. In 2025-26 the cross-country track opened on 29 November and the downhill with the drag lift was announced for the Immaculate Conception long weekend; the agreement asks to aim for the Sant'Ambrogio weekend with machine-made snow.

The Sci Club Valserina, a sports association from Oltre il Colle affiliated to FISI, under an agreement with the municipalities of Oltre il Colle and Serina, which own the facilities. The latest agreement covered the period from 1 November 2024 to 30 August 2026.

According to Mountain Wilderness's 2007 census, because of declining snowfall, the death of the owner and the age of the lifts, decommissioned in 2003 after a landslide. L'Eco di Bergamo speaks of a drag lift running until the 1990s: the sources disagree on the date.

Yes, in the Conca dell'Alben, served by the magic carpet the municipality bought in 2025. At Zambla Alta there is also the small drag lift near the Albergo Ristorante Neve, but in December 2022 it was reported closed and we have found no news of a reopening.

Yes: since 1 January 2022 Legislative Decree 40/2021 has required anyone skiing on downhill slopes to have third-party liability insurance.

Yes, the Scuola Sci Oltre il Colle, active since 1981 and directed by Carolina Tiraboschi. It teaches Nordic skiing, alpine skiing and Nordic walking and has instructors specialised in pupils with disabilities. Contacts: 350 1230498 and info@scuolascioltreilcolle.it.

In the 2025-26 season the school charged 45 euros an hour for one person, plus 10 euros for each extra person, with 55-minute lessons. The alpine group courses at Christmas, at Epiphany and on Sundays cost 150 euros. Prices for 2026-27 have not yet been published.

At Edo Sport, via Prealpina 892 in Zambla Alta, telephone 0345 95285: the municipality's list of businesses gives it as a sports shop with ski and mountain bike hire. The school also gives equipment hire on site for its courses.

Yes: Edo Sport, in Zambla Alta, lists snowshoes among its hire equipment on its website, together with skis, snowboards and sledges. In winter the hire desk opens from 8.30 to 12.30 and from 13.30 to 18.00; it is best to phone ahead (0345 95285).

It depends on what is counted: FISI has approved two loops of 2.5 and 5 kilometres, the school speaks of 12-13 kilometres of tracks, VisitBrembo of 16 kilometres in all from Zambla Alta to Valpiana. Actual grooming changes every winter with the snow.

Yes: the Scuola Sci Oltre il Colle lists the specialisation for pupils with disabilities among its disciplines. Mention it when booking.

As of 1 October 2026 the school's website still shows the 2025-26 courses; for the new winter it is best to phone 350 1230498. The agreement for running the Conca dell'Alben slopes, which expired on 30 August 2026, has not yet been renewed either.

CAI Bergamo gives 2 hours 40 minutes up and 2 hours down on trail 223, for about 6 kilometres and 800 metres of ascent; the text of the same description puts the cross about 3 hours from the start. Luca Gherardi took about two and a half hours. The grade is E.

It is graded E, a hiking trail: path and tracks across pastures, with no protected sections. The CAI recommends boots and high-mountain clothing. The south-ridge variant is more exposed and tiring, while the climb from the saddle to the Cima Foppazzi is on easy grassy slopes.

At the Colle di Zambla, in the free car park on the pass next to the fountain. Alternatively, in summer, you can leave the car at around 1,600 metres on the toll road to the Alpe Arera, above Plassa, and climb on trail 237: 450 metres of ascent and 1 hour 50 minutes.

Don't count on it: according to the L'Eco di Bergamo account there are no springs along the route, and the spring beside the Mistri bivouac is marked as not drinkable on OpenStreetMap. Fill your bottles at the fountain on the Colle di Zambla.

Yes. The classic one goes up trail 223 and comes back via the Baita Camplano on trails 237 and 238: 14.5 kilometres and 961 metres according to in-Lombardia, 15 kilometres, 1,100 metres and five hours with the Cima Foppazzi according to L'Eco di Bergamo. Shorter is Luca Gherardi's loop with a descent along the grassy ridge: 11.5 kilometres and 850 metres.

The winter room is always open; the bivouac itself is staffed on Wednesdays and Sundays, has ten beds and is run by the Gruppo Camós for its owner, the municipality of Gorno (valdelriso.it). Every last Sunday of July it hosts the bivouac festival.

Diggings, tunnel adits, spoil heaps and old shelters, mostly between the Baita di Mezzo and the Baita Alta. Sphalerite and calamine were mined here for zinc, lead and a little silver from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1970s; the last activity at Gorno stopped in 1981 or 1982 depending on the source.

From the Bocchetta di Grem (1,976 m) it is about 20 minutes over grassy slopes to the stone cairn. The CAI gives it as 2,097 metres, Wikipedia and the regional map used by OpenStreetMap as 2,093.

A kilometre south of the Colle di Zambla, along the forest road to the Conca dell'Alben, at 1,267 metres according to the regional technical map. It is the junction where CAI trail 501 to Monte Alben and trail 526B to the Madonna del Frassino and Chignolo d'Oneta begin. On OpenStreetMap's municipal boundaries it is already in the municipality of Oneta, right next to that of Oltre il Colle.

CAI Bergamo says to park at the Colle di Zambla: the road to the Crocetta is an agro-sylvo-pastoral road with a barrier at the start, and in 2011 the Sass Balòss reports mentioned a no-entry sign. By car you can get close to the Conca dell'Alben by driving up from Oltre il Colle along via Drago to the Pian della Palla.

Yes, there is a spring of drinking water at the Crocetta. The barbecue areas with grills and tables are further on, at the Pian della Palla and the Conca dell'Alben.

CAI Bergamo gives the whole of trail 501 from the Colle di Zambla as 3.7 kilometres, 750 metres of ascent and 2 hours 15 minutes up. From the Crocetta the trail starts about 300 metres further on and climbs to the Col dei Brassamonti (1,755 m) and the Passo della Forca (1,848 m); the final ridge is EE.

From the Crocetta it drops through the woods to the Madonna del Frassino sanctuary (987 m) in about 35 minutes and continues to Chignolo d'Oneta (830 m): 2 hours out and 2 hours 15 back, grade E, recommended from May to October.

No. The Passo della Crocetta of the 2023 and 2025 editions of Il Lombardia is a road pass on the Dossena side, 11 kilometres at 6.2 per cent on average according to Sportface. The Crocetta near Zambla is on a forest road closed to traffic.

It is part of CAI Bergamo's barrier-free route 104, graded AT: maximum gradient 10 per cent, average width 3 metres and minimum 2, no steps. The CAI describes it as easy for people with non-motor disabilities and passable with a joëlette for people with motor disabilities.

Yes, but the road is a cross-country ski track and the stretch from Zambla Alta to the Crocetta is lit for evening skiing: walk at the side, off the groomed trail, where the CAI also mentions a temporary protective barrier.

The Climbook catalogue records 26 pitches on the east face and 19 on the north: grouped, that is 15 lines on the east face, from 3a to 7a+, and 6 on the north, up to the 7b of the Bombata tm. The routes are short, one to five pitches, and can be linked.

From the Colle di Zambla follow the dirt road towards the Alben and then CAI trail 501 to the Col dei Brassamonti (1,755 m); after five minutes a detour to the left leads to the Baita Nembrini, at the foot of the east face. It takes about an hour and a half and 460-500 metres of ascent.

Walter Bonatti and Camillo Barzaghi, on 5 November 1950, in three hours of climbing: three short pitches on the east face, graded IV and V at the time, with the first part on aid. Today the route is graded 6b, or 5c and A0, on the first pitch.

Yes. In 2011 mountain guide Mattia Cavagna and the Fancy Mountain association re-bolted about twenty pitches with bolts and resin anchors, leaving the historic pegs on the classics. Fifteen years have passed: belays and rings should be checked.

By abseil. Sass Balòss describes a 60-metre abseil from the two cemented rings in the north-west chimney, back to the foot of the face; for the Bonatti, Gulliver also describes two abseils of 20 and 55 metres down the Ultimo Calice route, to the base behind the hut.

Yes, but it is not an open bivouac: it is a stone hut of the CAI Valserina subsection with ten beds, kept locked. Ask the subsection in Serina for the keys (Escursionismo.it, Luca Gherardi); reports from 2011 and 2012 also named the Centro Sportivo Valle at the Passo di Zambla.

Ferrate365 grades it difficult: 2 hours of via ferrata, 400 protected metres, about 4 hours for the whole round from the Conca dell'Alben car park. VieFerrate.it considers it moderately difficult with difficult passages because of steepness and exposure. Early in the season an unprotected gully can be snow-filled.

No. The Corna Bianca at Cornalba, with more than a hundred routes up to 9a+, is on the south side of the Alben, above Cornalba, with a different approach. The Torrione Brassamonti, the Bottiglione and the Coregn de l'Acqua are on the north side, above the Zambla basin.

About 12 kilometres from Zorzone to Scalvino di Lenna, with 450 metres of descent and a high point of around 990 metres. CAI Bergamo gives 4 hours 30 minutes out and 5 hours back; the CAI Valserina subsection reckons 5 hours excluding stops. The grade is E.

On the left of the road just before you reach Zorzone, a hamlet of Oltre il Colle, at about 850 metres, near the Serbaplast firm. CAI Bergamo recommends parking in Zorzone in via Scolari.

The traverse ends at Scalvino di Lenna, so you need a second car or a lift; walking back on the same path takes another 5 hours according to the CAI. At the end, at the Agriturismo Ferdy, you are on the Valle Brembana cycle path.

It is not technical, but it has exposed sections protected by chains on an overhanging slope, and it is long and isolated: no houses or huts, and according to Percorsi MTB Val Brembana no mobile signal. You need a sure foot, a dry day and someone who knows where you are.

They are the remains of the narrow-gauge railway built to carry the valley's timber and, later, marble from the quarries to the Brembo, first with mules and then with a Decauville locomotive. The work ended in the early 1960s. It is not the Valle Brembana railway, which was standard gauge.

Yes: it is Special Area of Conservation IT2060008 Valle Parina, managed by the Orobie Bergamasche Park, 2,225 hectares between Dossena, Lenna, Oltre il Colle, San Giovanni Bianco and Serina, important for its gorge habitats and very low human impact.

Percorsi MTB Val Brembana offers it as a demanding ride from San Pellegrino Terme, 48.4 kilometres and 1,180 metres of ascent, with about 70 per cent of the path rideable. The chained sections must be done on foot, and the description stresses going in a group, with spares and on dry ground.

The CAI considers it passable all year, but the ground must be dry for the exposed sections. The CAI Valserina subsection walked it in April; in summer, on the south-facing slope, watch out for the vipers mentioned by Percorsi MTB Val Brembana.

Yes, via the Capanna 2000. CAI trail 221 climbs from Zambla Alta (1,150 m) to the hut in 3.6 kilometres and about 900 metres of ascent, then trail 222 traverses the Val d'Arera to the Passo Branchino (1,821 m) in 3.8 kilometres and 1 hour 15 minutes, past the Baita Branchino; the lake is just below the pass.

CAI Bergamo gives 1 hour 15 minutes out and 1 hour 30 back on trail 222, with about 100 metres of ascent and 200 of descent: the route stays almost level between 1,821 and 1,960 metres. The grade is E.

Yes, CAI 231 climbs the whole Val Vedra: 7.6 kilometres, 850 metres of ascent, 3 hours out and 2 hours 10 back, past Pian Bracca, the Baita Pessel and the Casera di Vedro. Pian Bracca can also be reached by car from Zorzone.

The car park at 1,600 metres, at the top of the road from Plassa, is paid: 4 euros for any vehicle, with a ticket bought before driving up at the Plassa parking meters or in partner shops, or a 30-euro season pass (Comune di Oltre il Colle, April 2026). In winter the road is closed; lower down, near the Camping Arera, there are free car parks.

For the 2026 season the hut's blog announces opening on Saturdays and Sundays in September and October. The hut, the former Baita di Neel alta, stands north-east of the lake at 1,787 metres according to the CAI and is run by the A.R.D.E.S. association.

Yes: CAI Bergamo's Sentiero dei Fiori links trail 222 from the Capanna 2000 to the Passo Branchino, trail 218 from the pass to the Mandrone via the Bocchetta di Corna Piana and part of trail 244 back to the hut over the Passo Gabbia. The CAI grades it E, the Orobie Park places it between 1,821 and 2,078 metres and the hut's page on the regional portal reckons about 3 hours. Only the full circuit on trail 244 is EE.

It lies on the administrative boundary between Ardesio and Oltre il Colle, in a hollow between the Corno Branchino and the Corna Piana (Wikipedia). One of the two trails up to it, trail 231, starts from Zorzone in Oltre il Colle.

Yes, on CAI trail 219, the Sentiero delle Farfalle: 2.6 kilometres and 240 metres of height difference, 40 minutes down and 50 up. The Baite di Mezzeno are on the Roncobello side, and the Capovalle-Mezzeno municipal road is a toll road.

Yes. The Mistri and Telini bivouacs on the Grem and the MAGA bivouac below the Cima di Menna have an always-open winter room; at the Passo della Forca, on the Alben, there is the small Gioan shelter. The Baita Nembrini, at the foot of the Torrione Brassamonti, is kept locked instead.

The winter room is. The bivouac proper, with ten beds, a stove and solar electricity, is staffed by the Gruppo Camós on Wednesdays and Sundays (valdelriso.it). You reach it from the Colle di Zambla on trail 223 or from Gorno on trail 263.

Yes, but you need the keys: it is a hut of the CAI Valserina subsection with ten beds, kept locked. Ask the subsection in Serina for the keys, mobile 340 7345673 (Escursionismo.it); reports from 2011 and 2012 also named the Centro Sportivo Valle at the Passo di Zambla.

Below the Cima di Menna, at the head of the Val Carnera, on CAI trail 234 from Zorzone: 4 hours up and 1,250 metres of ascent to the summit. According to Diska.it the acronym stands for Menna, Arera, Grem, Alben; the CAI also calls it the Bivacco Gerolamo Palazzi.

Ten beds. It is open on Sundays from May to September, when only drinks and simple refreshments are served, while the winter room is always open (valdelriso.it). It is run by the Gorno Alpini.

Not the winter rooms, which are emergency shelters with no booking. For the Baita Nembrini you need to get the keys, and for the beds at the Mistri bivouac the contact is the Gruppo Camós (bivouac number 329 0144370).

CAI Bergamo lists the Mistri bivouac festival on the last Sunday of July, the Telini festival on the fourth Sunday of August, the Monte Menna festival at the MAGA bivouac on the first Sunday of August and the closing festival of the Baita Golla on the fourth Sunday of September.

Not unless you are a member: the hut of the Società Alpinistica Bergamo Alta is private and reserved for members, as the sign on the door says. To sleep on the Arera, the reference is the Capanna 2000.

The most famous is Linaria tonzigii, which lives only on a few limestone scree slopes of the Bergamo Orobie, including the Valle d'Arera and the Mandrone. Along the Sentiero dei Fiori you also find Galium montis-arerae, Campanula raineri, Allium insubricum, Silene elisabethae, Minuartia grignensis and Primula glaucescens.

It is a mealy primrose with flowers from purplish pink to violet, noticed in 1988 on Monte Alben and described in 1993 by Banfi and Ferlinghetti. It grows in cracks in limestone-dolomite cliffs, on the Alben above 1,150 metres, in the Aralalta group and the Val d'Ancogno, and flowers from April to June.

From late June to mid-July, with seeds ripening between July and August (Lombardy Region). It grows only on unstable carbonate scree between 1,600 and 2,400 metres, in four groups: Pegherolo, Cima di Menna, Pizzo Arera and Monte Ferrante.

It depends on the species: April to June for Primula albenensis on the cliffs of the Alben, right after the snow melts for Primula glaucescens, late June to mid-July for Linaria tonzigii, late July to late August for Campanula raineri.

No. In Lombardy regional law 10 of 2008 forbids picking the species on list C1, which includes all primroses, saxifrages, rock-jasmines and almost all gentians, as well as Linaria tonzigii, Galium montis-arerae, Campanula raineri and edelweiss.

Not according to the sources: Viola comollia is an Orobie endemic that grows on siliceous scree and rubble (Acta Plantarum), while the Arera and the Alben are limestone mountains.

Yes, the municipality is one of those of the Orobie Bergamasche Regional Park, established in 1989. Its territory also includes two Special Areas of Conservation managed by the Park: Val Nossana – Cima di Grem and Valle Parina.

Yes: in 2015 Flora Alpina Bergamasca published, with the municipality of Oltre il Colle, the booklet «Il Sentiero FAB dell'Arera», and in 2018 the book «I sentieri dei fiori dell'Arera» (EQUA, 144 pages), which combines the guide to the Brissoni trail and the one to the FAB trail.

Yes, four documented by specialist portals. The main one is the Oltre il Colle – Capanna 2000 – Sentiero dei Fiori – Val Vedra loop: 29.4 kilometres, 1,363 metres and 4 hours 5 minutes actual, very demanding. There are also the Val Parina traverse from San Pellegrino, the Val del Riso round from Valpiana and the Arera Tour from Ponte Nossa.

The lower stretch, CAI trail 222 between the Capanna 2000 and the Passo di Val Vedra, is part of the Arera loop with rideability of around 50 per cent: it is for experienced riders, with many stretches on foot. It is very popular with hikers, who always have priority.

Yes, from Edo Sport at via Prealpina 892 in Zambla Alta: Rossignol full-suspension or hardtail e-bikes, 35 euros for half a day and 55 for a full day, with booking required on 0345 95285.

No: for safety reasons Edo Sport's rules forbid riding hired e-bikes up Monte Arera. With your own bike, Valle Seriana Bike's Arera Tour also suits e-bikes, with a second battery recommended.

Yes: regional law 5 of 2017 allows the trails of the hiking network to be used by bicycle and e-bike as well, unless local bans apply for safety or environmental protection. Motor vehicles are banned. The CAI code asks riders to give way to walkers.

The description mentions only the fountain in Oltre il Colle, in the starting square. The only support point along the way is the Rifugio Capanna 2000, telephone 0345 95096, during its opening periods.

Percorsi MTB Val Brembana considers a full-suspension mountain bike and the GPS track essential: the climb to the hut reaches 25 per cent on concrete and stones, the Sentiero dei Fiori is technical and the Val Vedra descent requires good skills.

Between 13.7 and 14.1 kilometres, with about 800 metres of ascent and an average gradient of 5.7-5.8 per cent: 13.7 km and 793 m for myCols, 14.0 km and 806 m for CyclingCols, 14.1 km and 811 m for climbfinder, 14.1 km and 816 m for salite.ch.

The Brembana valley side, from Ambria di Zogno: about 23 kilometres for 918-961 metres of ascent, with an average gradient of around 4 per cent and about six almost flat kilometres between Valpiana and the far side of Oltre il Colle. From Ponte Nossa you climb almost the same height in 14 kilometres.

According to the salite.ch profile, the last three and a half kilometres, from the Cantoni d'Oneta to the pass, almost all at 8 per cent, plus the 8 per cent sections around Erdeno and before Oneta. Climbfinder measures 12.2 per cent over the steepest hundred metres, CyclingCols gives a maximum of 10.

Yes, twice. On 11 June 1976 on the Terme di Comano–Bergamo stage, with Gianbattista Baronchelli first at the top and Felice Gimondi winning the stage; on 9 June 1977 on the Pinzolo–San Pellegrino Terme stage, with Renato Laghi first over the pass and winner after a long breakaway.

The 2023 and 2025 editions, from Como to Bergamo, included the climb to Zambla Alta, after Berbenno and the Passo della Crocetta and before the Passo di Ganda. The 10 October 2026 edition, from Bergamo to Como, does not pass through Zambla.

1,264 metres according to Wikipedia, myCols and the map used by OpenStreetMap; climbfinder gives 1,262 metres and CyclingCols 1,258. The salite.ch profile stops at 1,238 metres.

Yes: the SP27, closed from 28 August 2026 after a landslide at Rosolo di Algua, reopened on the afternoon of 1 October 2026 (Valbrembanaweb). During the closure traffic was diverted via Costa Serina.

On the Brembana side there are fountains at Galleria, Serina and Valpiana; at the Passo di Zambla there is a fountain near the car park. There are also bars and restaurants at the pass.

According to the municipal leaflet on Sundays and holidays, from 15.00 to 17.00 from November to March and from 15.00 to 18.00 from April to October, and every day from 1 August to the third Sunday of August. The Ministry of Culture lists it instead as open on request with compulsory booking. The sources are not recent: phone 0345 95313.

The Ministry of Culture page, updated in 2022, gives €2.50 full price and no reductions. The Comunità Montana Valle Brembana page still gives €1.50 for adults and young people from 13, €1 each for groups of at least five and free entry up to 12.

In the former primary school of Zorzone, at via Funivia 101, a hamlet of Oltre il Colle. You leave the car in the hamlet's public car parks, a short walk from the museum and from the Santissima Trinità church.

Three floors: on the ground floor the mining section, with a rebuilt tunnel entrance, wagons, rock drills and miners' documents; on the first floor local minerals and minerals from around the world and 450 fossils; on the top floor a multimedia room and the memorial to the Lady Irene bomber, which crashed on the Menna in 1944.

There is no visitor route open in the tunnels. The 2014 municipal leaflet listed, by appointment only, the Riservetta, a former explosives store at Cà Pasì, and some outdoor mining structures: check with the museum. To go into a mine with a guide there is the Gorno Mines Ecomuseum, in the Val del Riso.

It is the museum room devoted to the American B-24 bomber Lady Irene, which on the night of 4 October 1944 crashed below the crest of Monte Menna during a supply mission to the partisans: ten American airmen and three Italians died. The memorial opened in 2016 and displays objects and remains of the aircraft.

Mainly zinc and lead minerals: the calamines, that is oxidised zinc minerals such as smithsonite and hemimorphite, blende (zinc sulphide) and galena (lead sulphide), which also contained a little silver. The museum also displays local hydrozincite, aurichalcite, plattnerite, bournonite, malachite and wulfenite.

In the early 1980s. The mines' archive and SAMIM, the last company holding the concession, give 1982, and the Gorno Ecomuseum dates the closure to 12 January 1982; the Zorzone museum material says 1980, while a 2020 geological study places the last underground work up to 1985.

Since 1449: by a decree of 5 April that year the bishop of Bergamo, Polidoro Foscari, separated it from the church of San Giacomo di Lepreno. The church was consecrated in 1780 by bishop Giovanni Paolo Dolfin and enlarged in 1935 to a design by Luigi Angelini.

The Bergamo engineer and architect Luigi Angelini, who in 1935 directed the restoration and enlargement of the church; the Centro Storico Culturale Valle Brembana dates the work between 1935 and 1937. The portico runs round three sides of the façade.

The vault frescoes by Vincenzo Angelo Orelli from the early nineteenth century, including the Glory of St Dominic; Enrico Scuri's Death of St Joseph of 1872; paintings by Francesco Coghetti; a wooden statue of the Madonna by Angelo Virgilio Vavassori and the organ by Carlo Bossi, of 1804 or 1805 depending on the source.

On 24 August. St Bartholomew the Apostle is the patron saint of the municipality of Oltre il Colle and titular saint of the main village's parish church.

The directory of the diocese of Bergamo does not publish them for the churches of the basin. The parish of San Bartolomeo is at via Roma 171: telephone 0345 95095, email oltreilcolle@diocesibg.it. The municipality's three parishes have the same parish priest.

Eight. The diocesan survey attributes them to the Crespi foundry, which after the war recast the bells that had escaped requisition into a peal in D major consecrated on 3 March 1951; the Wikipedia entry on the municipality speaks instead of a peal in B by the Capanni foundry.

It is the church of Santa Maria Nascente, in the Grimoldo district, a chapel of ease of the parish of San Bartolomeo. Its façade was painted in the eighteenth century and inside are two frescoes by Vincenzo Angelo Orelli of 1803; according to the Centro Storico Culturale Valle Brembana it stands on a medieval chapel of the Holy Cross and the Nativity of Mary.

Since 17 November 1587, when the bishop of Bergamo, Gerolamo Ragazzoni, separated the church of Santa Maria Maddalena from the parish of San Bartolomeo in Oltre il Colle. It was the first hamlet of the municipality to have a parish of its own.

Gian Paolo Cavagna (1550-1627), a Bergamo painter: it is a St Mary Magdalene in Glory, with angels lifting the saint and a mountain landscape in the lower part.

It dates from 1799: it was built by Giuseppe Serassi, of the Serassi family of organ builders, active between 1720 and 1895.

On 18 July 1737, by bishop Antonio Redetti, who added the title of the Blessed Virgin Mary to that of the Magdalene. In 1924 the church was lengthened by one bay and on 26 May that year the high altar was consecrated.

Yes. Zambla Alta was an independent parish from 1960, but since 20 November 1986 the two hamlets have formed the parish of Santa Maria Maddalena e Santa Maria Immacolata, based in Zambla.

A single nave with a depressed barrel vault, seven bays, six side altars in deep chapels, a presbytery raised six steps of Zandobbio marble and a dome with the four evangelists on the pendentives. Outside, a portico runs along one side and round the apse.

Via Vidali 36, telephone 0345 95124, email zambla@diocesibg.it, according to the directory of the diocese of Bergamo, which does not publish mass times.

Giovan Battista Caniana (1671-1754). The rebuilding to his design began in 1745 and, according to the diocesan survey, ended in 1755, the year after his death; the new church was consecrated in 1780 by bishop Giovanni Paolo Dolfin.

Since 24 September 1636, by decree of the bishop of Bergamo Luigi Grimani. The first church was consecrated on 21 June 1644 by the suffragan bishop Giovan Battista Dovera with the title of the Holy Trinity.

A nave of three bays with faux-marble pilasters and Corinthian capitals, the dome with the Madonna of the Assumption and the four evangelists, the red marble baptistery with the statue of St Roch, the altars of Our Lady of the Rosary and the Holy Crucifix, the high altar of 1795 and, in the sacristy, Antonio Festi's Madonna della Cintura of 1628.

Umberto Marigliani, in 1911. According to the diocesan survey he painted two of the four evangelists, completing an existing decoration; Wikipedia credits him with the evangelists and other frescoes.

It is a canvas by Antonio Festi dated 1628, kept in the sacristy: the Virgin offers the girdle to a group of saints. It recalls the devotion of the school and later the confraternity of the Cintura, recorded in Zorzone in 1666 and at the end of the eighteenth century.

The chapel of San Rocco, built in 1640 to give thanks for the end of the plague on the mule track to Oltre il Colle, and the small church of the Beata Vergine del Miracolo at Peta, completed in 1784.

Via Santissima Trinità 20, telephone 0345 95083, email zorzone@diocesibg.it, according to the directory of the diocese of Bergamo, which does not publish mass times.

At Grumello, above Zambla Alta, on the road that climbs from Plassa towards the Pizzo Arera, at 1,345 metres, in the municipality of Oltre il Colle.

It was designed by the Lodi-born artist Giuliano Mauri (1938-2009) in 2008-2009. It was built after his death, in 2010, by the Consorzio forestale dell'Alto Serio with his son Roberto Mauri and a team of carpenters, and opened on 4 September 2010.

Five naves and 42 columns of woven poles and branches: 1,800 fir poles, 600 chestnut branches and about six thousand metres of hazel branches, with a beech tree inside each column. From 5 to 21 metres high, 28.5 long and 24 wide, it covers 650 square metres.

Partly. At the end of October 2018 Vaia destroyed about two thirds of the scaffolding and the Park chose not to rebuild it. In 2023 there were 33 beeches out of 42, with the nine missing ones to be replanted; in June 2026 the municipality celebrated the renewed growth.

At the Plassa car parks, above Zambla Alta: you cannot stop on the road that climbs. From there you walk along the road for two hairpin bends, about 500 metres and a quarter of an hour, to the clearing with the Park's sign.

Three: the first at Arte Sella, in Trentino, in 2001; the one at Oltre il Colle, built in 2010 after his death; and one in Lodi, opened in 2017 and dismantled in 2019 after storm damage.

From spring to autumn, when the beeches are in leaf and the road to Plassa is free of snow. It is an outdoor work in a clearing: shoes suited to a short stretch of path are enough.

It stands at 1,264 metres according to the CAI, Wikipedia and OpenStreetMap (the CyclingCols website measures 1,258) and separates the Val Serina and the Val Parina, on the Brembana side, from the Val del Riso, on the Seriana side. The pass itself is in the municipality of Oltre il Colle, less than a hundred metres from the Oneta boundary; Serina begins about one and a half kilometres away.

From Ponte Nossa 14 kilometres, with 806 metres of climbing, an average gradient of 5.8 per cent and a maximum of 10; from Ambria, in the Brembana valley, 23.2 kilometres with 958 metres of climbing, an average of 4 per cent and a maximum of 11, according to CyclingCols.

Yes, twice: on 11 June 1976, on the Terme di Comano-Bergamo stage, with Gianbattista Baronchelli first over the pass, and on 9 June 1977, on the Pinzolo-San Pellegrino Terme stage, with Renato Laghi first over the pass and stage winner.

Probably not. The municipality explains that the name was coined in Serina for the lands beyond the Forcella di Valpiana and the Col d'Anì; other sources link it to the pass to be crossed from both valleys or to the watershed seen from the Seriana valley. The hamlets of Zambla Alta and Zambla Bassa take their name from the Colle di Zambla.

There is a public car park on the pass, shown as free on OpenStreetMap; the CAI also mentions a small car park beside the road for those starting on trail 238.

CAI 238 to Baita Camplano and the Capanna 2000, in about three hours, stages 6 and 7 of the Sentiero dei Laghi Basso, from Serina and towards Clusone, and the routes to Monte Alben and the Grem.

For centuries the pass was crossed by a mule track. According to the local historian Massimo Maurizio the road over it was opened only around the 1970s, and in 1976 the Giro d'Italia already rode it; in the Val del Riso a road for the ore carts existed from 1884.

Mainly calamine, blende and galena, that is zinc and lead minerals, with small amounts of silver. The main mine was the Val Vedra mine, at Pian Bracca above the village, still being worked in the 1970s.

In 1982 SAMIM, the last concession holder, gave up the concession and ended extraction; the Gorno Ecomuseum gives 12 January 1982. The Zorzone museum says 1980, while a 2020 study places the last underground work up to 1985.

For now there is only exploration. In February 2026 the ministry authorised the company Vedra to resume it, with environmental conditions. Mining would require a further permit and funding; the company speaks of a plan 90 per cent ready and up to 250 jobs.

Paintings on the house fronts that grew out of a competition launched in 2006 by the mayor Rosanna Manenti, with three editions up to 2009. On 29 August 2026 seven new frescoes by students of the Manzù art high school in Bergamo brought the total to 23.

The church of the Santissima Trinità, the Museum of Minerals and Mining with the mural on its façade, the frescoes on the houses, the chapel of San Rocco on the old mule track and, with a hike, the Val Vedra or Monte Menna.

CAI 231 to the Val Vedra and Passo Branchino, about 850 metres of climbing and 3 hours, and CAI 234 to the MAGA bivouac and Monte Menna, about 1,250 metres and 4 hours. Both are hiking trails (E).

As of 1 October 2026 the official website says the park is temporarily closed for administrative updates requested by the municipality of Oltre il Colle, with no reopening date. To find out when it reopens, call or send a WhatsApp message to 347 9210690.

In the 2026 calendar the park is open from 10:00 to 18:00: on 6, 25 and 26 April, on Sundays and public holidays in May (plus the 1-3 May long weekend) and June, in July Monday to Friday from 14:00 to 18:00 and all day at weekends, every day in August and on Sundays in September. From October to December groups only by booking. Last entry 45 minutes before closing.

The 2026 prices published by the park are: morning ticket (10-14) 26 euros for adults and 15 for children, afternoon (14-18) 30 euros for adults and 15 for children, full day 39 euros for adults and 20 for children. Single-run tickets cost 15 euros for one course and 20 for two, chosen among Green, Blue, Red and Black.

From age 2 with the Elves Course, done without a harness. The Fuchsia Course, Net Cubes and Tyrolienne are for children aged 3 to 7, the Orange from 6, the Green and Blue from 7, the Red and Black from 10.

Anyone at most 145 centimetres tall, measured to the wrist with the arm raised. The children's ticket includes the Fuchsia and Orange courses, the Tyrolienne, the Elves Course and the Hanging Cube; anyone taller pays the adult price.

No. The park is in freely accessible woods and the ticket is only needed to go on the equipped courses: family and friends can enter the woods without paying.

Yes, for groups of at least 20 people: entry with kitting out and a compulsory briefing with an instructor, La Fiaba nel Bosco with children dressed as elves and a workshop with the fairies, and on request hikes with a mountain guide, climbing and outings with nights in a hut. Prices on request.

At the Passo di Zambla, in the municipality of Oltre il Colle, in the woods about 100 metres from the car park at the pass, by the Centro Sportivo Valle restaurant. From Bergamo you go up the Val Seriana turning off at Ponte Nossa or the Val Brembana turning off after Zogno.

Yes, CAI Bergamo's barrier-free route 104 from the Colle di Zambla towards the Conca dell'Alben and Pian della Palla: 5.6 kilometres there and back, 45 minutes each way, 30 metres of ascent and a maximum gradient of 10 per cent, with no steps or exposed sections.

With a pushchair yes, as long as it is an all-terrain model, because the surface goes from asphalt to packed earth, grass and stones. For wheelchairs CAI Bergamo declares the route suitable for people with motor disabilities with the help of a Joëlette; it is also indicated for non-motor disabilities and for blind people with a companion.

The CAI Bergamo page gives 45 minutes each way, the printable sheet 1 hour 30 there and back. The CAI track reaches Pian della Palla after about 2.8 kilometres.

You park at the Colle di Zambla, in the asphalted area by the Centro Sportivo Valle restaurant. The accessible toilet reported by the CAI is opposite the Al Trapper bar-restaurant, also at the pass.

Along the road there is a small area with benches and tables; at Pian della Palla and in the Conca dell'Alben there are barbecue areas with grills and small tables; at the Colle di Zambla the municipality built a stone fountain and barbecue in 2023 in the Parco del Colle area.

Not with a wheelchair or pushchair: since 20 November 2025 the stretch between the Colle di Zambla and Pian della Palla has been closed to traffic and becomes a Nordic ski track run by the Sci Club Valserina. On snowshoes you walk beside the tracks.

Yes, with a companion: CAI Bergamo's sheet lists it among the accessibility levels of route 104, together with non-motor disabilities and motor disabilities with the Joëlette.

Yes, two municipal ones: the main village playground on via Roma, which the municipality is enlarging with 930 square metres bought in 2025, and the inclusive park on via Fezzoli at Zambla Alta, built in 2023. In Zorzone OpenStreetMap shows a small playground next to the church.

Yes, the inclusive park on via Fezzoli at Zambla Alta, funded by Regione Lombardia under the call for inclusive playgrounds: it has equipment with impact-absorbing surfaces, a rest area for people with disabilities and a barrier-free path, near reserved parking spaces.

At the Colle di Zambla, in the Parco del Colle area where the municipality built a stone barbecue with a fountain in 2023, and along the Conca dell'Alben road, with barbecue areas with grills and small tables at Pian della Palla and in the Conca. Bring charcoal and food.

The documented accessible toilet is at the Colle di Zambla, opposite the Al Trapper bar-restaurant. For the via Roma and via Fezzoli parks the municipal acts do not mention toilets.

At the via Roma playground fountain shown on OpenStreetMap, at the Parco del Colle fountain at the Colle di Zambla and at the Crocetta spring along the road towards Pian della Palla, which may freeze in winter.

OpenStreetMap shows a small freely accessible playground next to the church of the Santissima Trinità in Zorzone, with a drinking fountain: it is close to the mineral museum.

Yes, the campsite's facilities include a playground, table tennis, volleyball and common rooms. It is not a public area: anyone not staying at the campsite should ask first.

Five minutes gently downhill from the Alpe Arera car park, at about 1,590 metres, when the road is open. On foot from Plassa di Zambla Alta it takes about an hour for 350-360 metres of ascent on CAI trail 221.

No. It is the private hut of the SABA, Società Alpinistica Bergamo Alta, reserved for members: the sign on the door warns that there is no obligation to open or to receive hikers. The sources give 24 beds and opening for members from mid-July to mid-September.

Don't count on it: it is not a public refreshment point. For lunch in a hut the reference is the Capanna 2000, about 45 minutes away, with 80 seats, to be checked because of the renovation works awarded by the municipality in 2026.

The car park at 1,600 metres has a municipal parking meter: the Rifugi di Lombardia portal gives 4 euros. The road is open only in the fine season, from 22 April in 2026, with a 30 km/h limit and no parking along the road.

Only on foot: the road from Plassa to 1,600 metres is closed to all vehicles by ordinance, in 2025-26 from 18 November to 22 April. From the car park near the Camping Arera you climb in about an hour; it is the first part of the snowshoe walk to the Capanna 2000.

About 45 minutes' walk on the same south face of the Pizzo Arera. CAI trail 237 to the Cima di Grem, 1 hour 50, and the links to the Sentiero dei Fiori also start from the hut.

Società Alpinistica Bergamo Alta, the association that owns the hut, according to the sign above the entrance, the Eco di Bergamo listing and Prima Bergamo. The hut is also known as rifugio SABA or Cà Arera.