Along the approach path to the via ferrata, about twenty minutes’ walk from Tranquilla, near the camping of the same name, a landscape installation on the life and work of the “Picasass”, so called in the local dialect quarrymen and stonemasons of Baveno’s pink granite. The clearing, characterized in various points by traces of the ancient mining activity of disused quarries, is equipped with seats in local granite for the rest and stop of hikers and set up with elements evocative of the ancient function of the places, here the territory itself is it is a museum, custodian and promoter of its own historical memory. Large blocks of pink granite and other stone varieties of the area are proposed in different stages of processing and flanked by life-size silhouettes with work scenes and stonecutters at work, taken from the rich repertoire of vintage photographs collected by the GranUM Museum, exhibition room created by the City of Baveno to tell the story of pink granite, its characteristics, history, techniques and uses all over the world. The “Picasass” path, in addition to leading to access to the via ferrata, intersects the VM3 hiking path for Monte Camoscio and Mottarone and can be easily reached even by inexperienced hikers, offering, at times , remarkable panoramic views of the Borromean Gulf.
