valle maira | be-cause – style, travel, collecting and food blog

Valle Maira – cemetery:
Between Celle di Macra and Palent we found this old cemetery in the mountains. I can not say exactly which church/cemetry it is. Even with the ma, be-cause the density of the churches in this region is so dense. It could be Addolorata, Vergine Assunta or Anna e Giuseppe (please comment if you know it for sure).

I was fascinated by the quietness and peacefulness of this cemetery and the rustic beauty of it. I do not know exactly where my fascination for cemeteries comes from. It it the quietness, the look back into time or simply the fact that the shortest way to school in my childhood was through the cemetery?

On this particular one, most graves had a photo of the loved ones on porcelain of the gravestones. The newest graves dated back to around 1940/1950 so the time when most of the inhabitants of Valle Maira left it. To say sorry for disrupting the quietness of this place I placed a flower on the latch of the gate.

Valle Maira – Maira Valley hiking:
We just came back from hiking in the Maira Valley / Valle Maira a forgotten jewel and rediscovered luckily. It´s often revered as the a black spot in Europe be-cause of only 2 inhabitants per km2 but it is recovering from that status. Before and after the WWII the area was more and more abandoned and houses and land were left behind. The Schneiders a german couple found this jewel around 1980 and with the help of some extraordinary personalities from the valley they founded the Percorsio Occitani a connection of treks and posto tappas (shelter and some of best food + wine on this planet).

We met great people there, had a glimpse into a forgotten culture had great food and wine and will for sure continue this amazing experience within the next years. The combination of extraordinary trekking, culture and good food (wine) is just too unique!