Directions
The route starts from Riva del Garda near the parking lot on Via Monte Oro and climbs along the paved SAT 404 path towards the Bastion. Shortly before reaching the fortress overlooking Riva, it turns right onto the forest road SAT 402 leading to the ruins of the chapel of Maria Maddalena. It now crosses halfway up the slope until descending to the Foci San Giacomo hamlet at the foot of the Albola torrent gorge. It then continues along to the village of Deva, following the ancient "Western Way" between stone walls and towards the end, for some short stretches, the provincial road.
At Deva, at the hairpin bend, it takes a dirt road to the right that leads to the Magnone torrent valley where a fish farm is located. After passing a short tunnel under the fish farm, it crosses the torrent and climbs the steep slope leading to the Romanesque chapel of San Lorenzo.
The path continues up to the top of the hill (Grom viewpoint) and through the village of Frapporta reaches the Tenno Castle. Descending for about a hundred meters along the main road to Riva del Garda, it takes a paved farm road crossing vineyards overlooking the GardaTrentino plain until reaching the Novino locality.
It now climbs again on a dirt road through the deep notch of the Tovo Valley, squeezed between the steep rocky slopes of Monte Biaina and Calino. At a sharp left turn, the road is abandoned to take a path that leads to the opposite side where we descend along the SAT 409 path, which takes us to the paved road ascending from Varignano to Padaro and San Giovanni. We climb it for a few dozen meters to take the first farm road on the right running through the olive grove at the foot of the limestone cliffs of Monte Baone. We pass the foot of the Baone Cliff, the first in the world equipped also for disabled climbers, and - bypassing a characteristic limestone promontory - follow a path leading to the small valley of Laghel, where the Via Crucis begins.
Instead of descending along the paved road towards Arco, we head towards the Arco Castle which towers above us and after about a hundred meters take the walkway to the Castle on the right. We climb to the Prato della Lizza at the foot of the tower to visit the fortress. Returning along the same path, we take the first paved small street on the left and cross the entire olive grove overlooking the historic center of Arco, always staying on the highest route, avoiding variants that descend towards the town center, which we reach only at its easternmost point near the bridge over the Sarca river. Here ends the first stage.
The itinerary is fully marked with signs reading “GardaTrek Low Loop”.
