Hi! Today I’d like to recount you a legend set in the Tagliaretto hamlet, in the deep Gran Dubbione valley, above Pinasca, in Chisone valley. If you decide to venture into the green woods and the narrow trails, you won’t be betrayed when you’ll get to Tagliaretto. This small group of houses is really attractive, and during the summer it’s flowered and well-finished. On the external walls of many of these dwellings you’ll see nice sundials painted on them. You wouldn’t say that here once lived unsettling figures…
It’s said that once in Tagliaretto lived a young man, fiancé with a nice girl from another hamlet of the valley. A night, while he was coming back from the house of his girlfriend, he heard some noises and saw some glares in the middle of the wood. Looking harder, he noticed that in front of him there were two enormous wild pigs obstructing the passage. They had a long bristly fur and flaming eyes which stared at him.
You could think «he’ll run away!», but no, the young man was really brave! He took the small knife he had in his pocket and wounded the leg of one of the two beast to make it run away. His action got the desired effect, and he could reach home without problems.
The day after, he met a young girl who lived in the hamlet, and saw that she had a bandage on her arm. Intrigued, he started to make a lot of question about the way she got that injury. At a certain point, the girl decided to let the cat out of bag and told him that she and her sister were masche, which means witches, and they were able to transform themselves in animals. She told him that it was long time they were fond of him, and the night before they have tried to scare him to discourage him to go and meet his girlfriend in the other hamlet.
The man decided to forgive them and to not tell anything to anybody, on the condition that they donated him a neckerchief every year, and he would have donated it to her beloved fiancé.
How to get here
From Pinerolo take the motorway towards Sestriere. When you pass the two tunnels, at the second roundabout follow the directions to Villar Perosa, getting to the Dubbione hamlet, in the town of Pinasca. At the roundabaut take the right and then again, following the narrow road which ends with the Annibale bridge. When you reach this bridge, you have to start to walk. Identify the path marked as Gran Dubbione road; go on the steep paved road until the walls of “Villa delle Rose”, where the mule track starts. Follow the trail number 347, marked whith white and red milestones. When you reach – and overtake – a fountain with a bench, take a small road following the directions for “7 ponti” – 7 bridges, literally; at the hairpin turn you’ll have to go straight and reach a group of ruined houses. Take the “variante della fontana” – fountain alternative pathway – , a steep trail which will bring you to Tagliaretto. The total walking time, from Annibale bridge, is estimated in 90 minutes.
Do you want to read the tale in Italian ?