Easy hikes and walks around Lake del Restello

The staircase of Sant’Augusta is a pedestrian path that, starting from Via Calcada, behind the Duomo of Serravalle, leads to the Sanctuary of the same name. It is a monumental work built in the thirties of the last century, with a symmetrical double-ramp staircase, in the center of which a fountain indicates the axis of development. The staircases and landings are bordered by railings made of cement grit. The double flight of stairs ends with a wall section with arches that allow passage to the destination at altitude, and at the same time create an architectural element for closing and delimiting the first part of the path. After this first starting section, the devotional path develops into a stretch of simple, narrow, and sudden hairpin bends, where the "Codolà" (pebbles) pavement is contained downstream by a wooden fence and upstream by the sloping ground. At the steepest points, masonry elements in rubble masonry contain the natural terrain. Over the years, this part of the path has been affected by uncontrolled vegetation growth, which has caused damage to the walking surface. The long stretch of path upstream of the staircase is characterized by linear sections interrupted by three full-width steps made of red stone monoblocks, concluding with a final staircase in view of the Sanctuary.

Serravalle, a beautiful medieval village, is an important hub and link between the plains and the mountains.

Simple, shaded path, also suitable for small children

A long avenue lined with cypress trees leads to the Pieve di Sant'Andrea di Bigonzo, isolated in a clearing that once served as a cemetery. The term pieve indicates an early church, equipped with a baptistery, which was responsible for the Christianization of a territory, and this corresponds to the foundation of Sant'Andrea in the 4th or 5th century, at the time of the martyrdom of Saint Augusta. The building in question was however rebuilt in Romanesque style and consecrated in 1303 with great prominence in the chronicles of the time. The façade has a five-lobed rose window in the center and two sepulchral canopies. On the south side stands the 17th-century bell tower while opposite is a small Renaissance portico. The interior, very suggestive, has a single nave covered by trusses, with four elegant canopies at the corners. The decorative set is noteworthy: frescoes mostly from the 15th and 16th centuries (Antonello da Serravalle, Francesco da Milano, Palma); sculptures (baptismal font with monolithic basin from the 11th century, two wooden crucifixes from the 14th and 15th centuries, a Renaissance altar with Saint Catherine), wooden tabernacle and polyptych from the Titian school; paintings attributed to Palma the Younger (1548-1628) and Francesco Frigimelica (ca. 1560-1649). Extract from «Vittorio Veneto e le Prealpi Trevigiane»

Past the stairs and the monument, the path is quite dilapidated. Wildly cut or uprooted trees; chaotic and unmaintained path. In short, a rather desolate ascent. Fortunately, the spectacular view at the summit is worth it. Access to a water point for refreshment and to toilets. Descent on the other flank on a path that is hardly more comfortable but authentically wild and shaded.

Attention, one side of the river is closed. Landslide...

So called because it has no tributaries and emissaries, Dead Lake is an intravalley lake formed through landslide accumulations that occurred at the end of the ice age. With its 55 m depth, and a reservoir of approximately 20 million square meters of water, it is the largest of the three lakes in the municipality of Vittorio Veneto. It is fed by underground infiltrations that come from Lake Santa Croce and by karst springs from the right side of Col Visentin. Like the underlying Restello and Negrisiola, arranged in succession, these semi-artificial basins were "built" on ancient basins left by the glacier that descended from the Lapisina Valley and in which mirrors of lake water had taken place. In fact, Val Lapisina is what remains of the branch of an ancient glacier that followed the current course of the Piave. The branch, in turn, divided, forming on one side what is today the Valley and on the other the morainic amphitheater located between Vittorio Veneto and Conegliano.

Characteristic building, still inhabited, once home to the guardian of the SADE (Adriatic Electricity Company) whose job was to detect the hydrometric level of the lake