Margone (Usseglio) - Margone (Usseglio)

Margone (Margoun in Piedmontese) is a fraction of the municipality of Usseglio in the province of Turin.

To know

Margone is located in the Valleys of Lanzo, more precisely in the Valle di Viù, of which it is the last hamlet reachable all year round from the provincial road; Usseglio, like all the municipalities of the Valley, it is part of the Union of mountain municipalities of the Graian Alps.

The name of the hamlet derives from the local dialect, the Franco-Provençal language, or from the Arpitano «Margoun», which meant the particular constructions of the numerous pastures still present in the area.

Tourism is present above all on weekends: in winter thanks to the proximity of the cross-country ski slopes of Usseglio and the alpine ski slopes of Pian Benot; in the summer, the holidaymakers who populate the second homes are also flanked by day tourists who animate the meadows of the hamlet and those of the nearby Malciaussia.

Geographical notes

The hamlet is about three kilometers from the town hall and the parish church of the municipality of Usseglio. The landscape is typically alpine, among the mountains of the Graian Alps that rise above the hamlet you can see the Rocciamelone (3,538 m.s.l.m.), la Punta Lunella (2.772 m.s.l.m.), la Red Cross (3,566 m.s.l.m.), but above all the Mount Lera (3,355 m.s.l.m.), whose unmistakable shape characterizes the panorama of the hamlet. In the hamlet flows the Stura di Viù, one of the three branches that form the Stura di Lanzo, a left tributary of the Po. The watercourse undoubtedly has a torrential character: in fact, alluvial phenomena are not rare, which can also affect some tributaries present in the hamlet.

When to go

The climate is typically mountainous, with long winters and an abundance of snow (in 2009 we reached 3 meters of snow), rainy springs and autumns, so much so that in a year an average of 1,200 mm of rain is reached. In summer, temperatures are mild. From the nearby Meteorological Station of Usseglio it can be seen that the average annual temperature is around 4.5 ° C, with a minimum in January of about -11 ° C and a maximum, recorded in July, with a value of just over 20 ° C. As the fraction is higher than the common one, the temperatures are 0.5-1.5 degrees colder.

Background

A plaque, mysteriously disappeared in the 1830s, certainly gave the passage in the hamlet of the troops of the Carthaginian Hannibal on his descent from neighboring France to Italy with his elephants. This hypothesis seems to have also been confirmed by a more recent reconstruction, "The Druid of Margùn"by Sisto Merlino, based on the writings of Polybius and Tito Livio: this even supposes that the name of the village derives from the lieutenant of Hannibal Magone the Samnite who in September 218 BC was in command of the Carthaginian troops.

How to orient yourself

How to get

By car

It is located along the SP32 between the hamlets of Quagliera is Malciaussia.

How to get around

What see

• Church of San Giovanni Battista (In the center of the hamlet). Chapel dedicated to the patron saint. 
• Casa Cibrario. House of the entrepreneur Luigi Cibrario. During the Second World War, it became a hospital in support of the Lanzo Torinese hospital, where the seriously injured from all Valleys of Lanzo, and, with makeshift means, also from the Lower Susa Valley. 
• Our Lady of Peace (About half an hour walk from the square). The statue is located at 1,500m on the Roc Lisa. Compared to the square, the statue is about 50 meters higher and, for this reason, Margone (1,450 m) can be clearly seen, Perinera (1,398 m) and the group of houses of Traverset (1,510 m).

Beyond these hamlets, numerous mountains can be clearly seen. The ones that are best seen are in the south and south-east and are the Truc Panè (2,190 m), la Punta Lunella (2,772 m), la Rocca del Forno (2,722 m) and the Punta Nonna (2,654 m). To the north-east you can see the tip of Monte Basso (1,838 m) and the water intake of the Crot hydroelectric plant. To the west, towards the Malciaussia lake you see the Colle Bellacomba (2,021 m), la Punta Cirel (2,561 m) and the Punta Sciarda (2,330 m).

In 1917, during the Great War, Don Giuseppe Giacosa, summer chaplain of Margone, fervently begged the Madonna so that peace could be reached which, with grace obtained, would bring a statue of the Virgin to that rock. At the end of the war, in 1918, the statue of the Madonna was placed in the chosen place, venerated with the name of "Madonna della Pace". In 1958 the parish priest of Usseglio, Don Pietro Giacomelli, then took care of the construction of a chapel in the same place, to be able to celebrate the Holy Mass decorously.

To reach the Madonnina della Pace you have to leave your car in the square of Margone and continue along the provincial road 32 towards Lake Malciaussia for about 600 meters. After 200 meters from the sign indicating whether the road to the lake is open on the right, a fairly narrow uphill path starts in the middle of a grove where you can see many fawns and birds. The start of the trail is indicated just before taking it on a rock on the right on a wooden sign. After 20 minutes you will reach the top of the Roc Lisa where the statue and chapel are located. You can go down on the same side, or take the ring that leads downhill to the complex of Barmafredda houses. The path starts west of the statue, exactly between it and the chapel and is cleaned annually for a foot race. This path is steeper than the other but it is shorter. After a quarter of an hour you will arrive in Barmafredda next to the rock where you can do climbing identified with a plate. From this complex of houses there is about 1 km to the square of Margone. The ring is 3.5 km surrounded by nature and accessible to all. 

Events and parties

What to do

• Sport. The hamlet is a starting point for the many excursions that the area allows both in winter with the use of snowshoes be in the summer on scenic trails that lead to altitude. 
• Hannibal (The way of Hannibal). Since 2017 this race passes through the path of the Madonnina della Pace, coming from Malciaussia lake they go up from Barmafredda and go down to Margone. The race starts from Usseglio (1,260 m) and passes through Margone (1,450 m), Luigi Cibrario Refuge (2,616 m), Col Sulè (3,073 m), With the Autaret (3,071 m), Punta Costan in France (3,305 m), Rifugio Ernesto Tazzetti (2,642 m), Lake of Malciaussia (1,805 m), the vertical Madonnina della Pace (1,500 m) and then back to Usseglio (1,260 m). The race is 42 km long with an elevation gain of over 3300 meters and is the only European race with 5 km above 3,000 m. 

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

Where stay

Safety

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Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Margone (Usseglio)
• Commons contains images or other files on Margone (Usseglio)

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