The Ancient Mining Village

A pleasant forestry road rises for a brief stretch along the Cervegàna torrent and takes us to the abandoned old village of Arsìera, whose name is tied to the mines of galena and blenda. Then you go back down to the torrent to go back up to Cornigiàn, from where you return to the starting point along the old road from Passo Cibiana. The provincial road 347 from Passo Cibiana, two kilometres after Fornesìghe and a little before Cornigiàn, crosses the Cervegàna torrent. This is where you leave the car  (1122 m), in the modest space before the bar that closes the forest road to traffic. The road follows the torrent up in a North-eastern direction. Follow this road and a little further on, near a little tabià, it forks. Here you go up to the left, the road gets more narrow until it becomes a path and it continues getting steeper. It goes up towards the East and comes out on to some fields just under the hamlet of Arsìera (1333 m, 45 min). The village has antique farming origins (XIV century) and is distinguished by a particularly mild climate (well exposed to the sun and protected from Northern winds by the Col Dur); it is also well known for the nearby mines of galena and blenda, whose openings are located a little above the village. Arsìera was inhabited until the mid 1900’s when the last resident left the village. For the way back it is better to choose the path that descends towards the South, returning to the level of the torrent near another tabià. Follow the little lane for a brief tract, until on the left you can make out a little bridge that crosses the Cervegàna torrent and leads to the path that goes up quite steeply to Cornigiàn, a tiny village on the sides of the provincial road, the sp 347 (1220 m, 30 min). From this point you descend towards the South, reaching a little road on the right that goes to the main square of the ex colony, and from here you take the path that in a few minutes goes back to the starting point.