Hike in Val Brandet: Sant'Antonio to Bivacco Davide

Val Brandet welcomes one of the most fascinating and intact alpine landscapes in the province of Brescia where lively streams descend from the slopes giving shape to spectacular waterfalls that gather inside numerous lakes.

This excursion enters the Val Brandet and leads up to its head via a route that requires adequate preparation due to its length and height difference. The starting point is the small village of Sant'Antonio di Corteno Golgi.

Follow the road that runs alongside the stream on foot until you cross it and reach the junction with the road that heads towards Valle di Campovecchio, where you turn left and enter Val Brandet. The path is easy and develops alongside the stream, in grassy clearings, wooden and stone huts, coniferous forests. After passing the picnic area of Ponte del Gallina, the road becomes steeper and heads in the direction of the pasture areas of Malga Casazza.

Near the malga, a metal arrow points to the right in the direction of the path to Lake Picol. The track climbs among the fir trees and remains parallel to that of the stream. Cross the stream and pass alongside the ruins of Malga Picol.

A series of hairpin bends between pasture areas and rocky outcrops takes you to the northern shore of Lake Picol, a rather large lake, despite the name, with very dark waters, housed at the bottom of a suggestive stony basin, dominated by Monte Torsoleto and the Castle of Picol. Along the last hour of walking that leads up to Bivacco Davide, you can admire the charm of the stretches of water of the Torsoleto lakes.

The Davide Bivouac is located at 2,645 meters near the Torsoleto Pass. From the bivouac the view extends over the mountains of Valtellina and the underlying Lake Picol to the north, and over the Brescia Pre-Alps and the Torsoleto Refuge to the south.