Monte Cornizzolo / Monte Rai

The route is never really difficult or exposed and can therefore be classified as E (Escursionista). There is one part where there is a chain to help you go up a rocky formation. The elevation gain, especially the steep climb do make you sweat though as you get up. The good part is that most of the trail is shaded untill you get higher up on the ridge. There are only water points at the start of the route so do make sure you take enough water with you as you can’t refill it higher up. I would recommend hiking this trail counter clockwise because you then do the steep part going up.

Starting from the car park you follow the road via del Pozzo up which zigzags and then in an U-turn you go left, towards Crotto del Capraio. Here you walk through a small little town, after passing through the town untill you get to this little split with the house and all the signs where you take right.

Afterwards you follow the stone trail passing the rifugio where you go up into the woods. From here it starts to get quite steep up towards the Tre Casott initially. 3 stone huts that were used as emergency shelters for people a long time ago, there are some picknick benches here and this is a great place for a rest at about 620m of elevation, meaning you’ve now done over 300m of elevation gain. This is also a place where I accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up going somewhere else, I noticed this really late and decided to do another route that is not on the map as I don’t think it was the best route. So be careful after the Tre Casott to follow the GPX closely towards the Corno Birone.

The trail up to the Corno Birone is quite steep and also the part with the chain is here, after this rewarding climb you get out of the woods where you get to enjoy the beautiful panoramic. At the top of the Corno Birone is a summit cross. From here you get a great view towards the Monte Rai and the ridge you’re about to walk on. Now it’s just the last part up to the Monte Rai which no longer present any difficulties untill you get to the highest point! Even though Monte Rai is the highest point there’s no summit cross here, just a stone. You can now pretty much look in all directions and enjoy the views! Sadly when I was there it was very humid and smoggy so I couldn’t see too much.

After having summited Monte Rai, you can decide to return or continue on the ridge towards the Rifugio and or Monte Cornizzolo. The trail up to Monte Corniczzolo starts just after the rifugio to the right. It’s an easy trail leading straight up to the big summit cross. From here on I started heading down almost straight south. This wasn’t the most obvious trail but there’s still a trail leading down. Once you get to the road you have to cross it an cross the barrier and continue going down in the corner of the turn. Here you pass through some beautiful tall grass giving you some great views of the trail and ridge that you follow down until you head into the woods. From here on it gets gradually less steep and you can relax your legs a bit after having descended all the altitude.

All in all a very enjoyable trail which quickly gains elevation to then open up and give you great view in all directions. A worth while day hike with the possibility of visiting 2 rifugios for refreshments.