Top 14 Natural Monuments around San Giusto Canavese

Erratic boulder of the Balteo glacier

Lake Candia (in Piedmontese lagh ëd Candia), located in the municipality of Candia, in the Canavese area, about thirty kilometers from Turin, is the last highly natural lake basin in the Piedmontese Po Valley, before the mountain barrier represented by the Western Alps.

The area depicted in these images is located a short distance from the parking lot where it's best to leave your car and explore (on foot or by bike) the countless trails that surround the lake. This is one of the few truly accessible areas along the entire perimeter because, perhaps to protect the lake's fragile ecosystem, the trail that circles it is kept at a constant distance. In any case, aside from the lake, the entire surrounding rural area is worth a visit, still pleasantly unspoiled. A trip in autumn is highly recommended for the myriad colors of the vegetation. Both cyclists and walkers should be careful, as I didn't notice any distinction between trails reserved for mountain bikes and those reserved for pedestrians; many secondary paths have dead ends!

A photo on the park's pier is a must. Stunning view...

After crossing Vialfrè along via Roma and via Borghetto, after a trail that runs alongside a fence you find yourself... in a meadow! Luckily, a providential sign guides you, to the left, to the start of the erratic boulders trail, other signs, to follow, show the right path first along an asphalt road, finally, with another left turn at a hairpin bend, back on the right path. Here begins a nice flowing stretch, never difficult (S2 max), but not at all trivial, because the ground, almost always pebbly, requires constant attention when driving. The trail is not critical, in the sense that, even "skipping" some deviations, you still find yourself on other paths almost parallel to the one I took. In the end, all the paths converge almost in the same point... in front of the highway to Aosta: following the trail, other nice paths lead to Villate.

The erratic boulders represent one of the most curious and typical aspects of glacial morphologies and are an interesting feature of the Morainic Amphitheater of Ivrea. Due to their imposing size, they have always aroused the interest of man, who in the past often used them as sacrificial altars. The erratic boulders originate from the Balteo glacier in the Pleistocene period: its erosive action gave rise to large debris, which was transported even for great distances with the advance of the ice. At the end of the glaciation, during the retreat phase of the glacier, the boulders were deposited on the ground, sometimes remaining resting on the surface, There are many erratic boulders in this stretch of moraine hill, but only 9, the largest and most beautiful, have been reported. This is the first, from which a ring starts that takes you to see them all and returns to the starting point. However, be aware that between boulder 3 and boulder 6 there are steps and you need to bring your bike.

Small intra-moraine lake, fed by rainwater in the small basin created by the Balteo Glacier in this moraine, which dates back more than one hundred thousand years. The name “paolet” in the local dialect means “small swamp” because over time this lake has partially filled with organic material created by the decomposition of aquatic vegetation. At the moment the water remains only in a ring outside the lake while in the center an islet has already formed: if there is no human intervention, the lake will gradually fill up completely. This is a site of great naturalistic importance for the many species that inhabit it, including the Pelobates fosco insubrico, a small toad at risk of extinction and for this reason the subject of a European protection project.

Here, during the Ice Age, the Balteo Glacier transported enormous boulders to its surface, which were then released when rising temperatures melted the ice.