The Nara pass
(Only for the admirers of Campiroi !)
In ancient imes, the position of the first settlements (Dalpe 5th century B.C. and Madrano 3rd century B.C.) suggests the existence of paths high up between the terraces and ridges, which served above all the needs of the local economy (transhumance to the mountain pastures and meadows). In Roman times, trade between the Leventina and adjacent valleys and Roman territories became substantial (resin, pitch, resinous wood, wax, cheese and honey exported to the south) although the favourites routes from Lombardy to the north were the San Bernardino pass (Val Mesolcina), the Lucomagno pass (Val Blenio) and the Settimo pass (in Grisons between Bivio and Casaccia in Val Bregaglia). The Gotthard, despite being the shortest passage, presented both on the north side, with the Schöllenen gorge of the Reuss river, and on the south side, with three gorges in Leventina carved by the Ticino river (Biaschina, Piottino and Stalvedro), major obstacles. Until the year 1000 the route of the road was probably on the right side of the valley (Biasca-Giornico-Chironico-Prato) when it was then moved to the valley floor. However, the gorges in the Leventina were always bypassed from above, on the right or left side of the valley depending on the gorge.
At the beginning of the 13th century, first a footbridge was built over the Schöllenen, probably by the Walser, and then the first bridge (Devil's Bridge) was built to cross the Reuss, which gave a boost to the traffic over the Gotthard. At the time, the route through the Leventina towards the Gotthard was known as the "strata francisca" or "strata francescha". As the mule track grew in importance, the Leventina farmers organised their own mule-train guilds. The degagna of Chiggiogna (see " History and Archaeology"), for example, was responsible for transporting goods between Faido and Giornico. Merchant paid a tax to the driver (Somiere) and a toll tax (forletto / Furleite) that was used to maintain the mule track. The trader also paid a right of stopover for storing goods each time he arrived at the next "stopover". The stops in Leventina were located in Biasca, Giornico, Faido, Prato and on the Gotthard and were the places where horses and mules were changed.
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Bassa di Nara (Nara pass, 2129 m)
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Along the right and left banks of the Ticino River, there were secondary mule tracks that connected villages, meadows and alps. One in particular, the mule track Biasca-Prugiasco-Bassa di Nara - Molare - Campello - Osco - Madrano/Airolo (Strada del Nara) acquired a certain importance for traffic and movements for different reasons.​
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From a geographical point of view, transit through the Leventina gorges posed a considerable challenge, given the difficulties posed by the Leventina gorges, and this at least until the 16th century when the Uri authorities carried out important road improvement works. These difficulties were exacerbated by the Biaschina plain, at the confluence of the Brenno (Val Blenio) and Ticino (Val Leventina) rivers, which at that time must have been an area dominated by water, the crossing of which was made difficult by the probable absence of a bridge. As can be seen on the map (Road No. 5), the Nara road therefore offered a valid alternative to get around the Leventina obstacles.
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This was also the route that in June 1584 Bernardino Tarugi, serving St. Charles Borromeo as Apostolic Visitor (see "The Borromeos in Calonico"), took, due to bad weather and water damage, to get to Altdorf in canton Uri.
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"With the grace of God, we arrived here in the evening in Altdorf, having had as much bad weather as can be said, because on Sunday evening, when we were staying in Biasca, the Tesino river took away the bridge at night to such an extent that we had to pass through the mountain of Bregno above Prusiasca, a very arduous road indeed and it was necessary to do it, almost all on foot and with fatigue we drove the horses where we took a day to reach Faitto and from there to Aerolo another day for the ruins that have fallen from the mountains.... ".
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From the point of view of the political organisation of the valley: the degagna of Prugiasco (see map) belonged to the Leventina and more precisely to the vicinity of Chiggiogna (see "History and Archaeology"), whose territory extended from the mountain ridge to the bottom of the valley in the Val Blenio. It is not known when Prugiasco became part of Leventina, but presumably this occured at the time of the administrative separation of the valleys between the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th century (Prugiasco became part of Val Blenio from 1798). The Nara road thus offered a link between the possessions of the Chiggiogna degagna in Val Blenio and Val Leventina.
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From a trade point of view: Father Angelico wrote in 1874: "Near the land of Molare, the trace of an ancient main road has not completely disappeared, which recalls the transit of goods through there, which those of Molare, and those of the Traversa, or Rossura, Chigiogna, and Calonico (read, Vicinanza di Chiggiogna) used to use horses or donkeys to go to Crualia, or Cruera (pagus Churvalaha) in the Grisons to provide salt or other supplies, as well as to load the Alps, which the Degagna della Traversa, and Molare itself possessed in that region; ... ". Cruera, Crualia or Cruara (see map) could be reached by first passing through the Val Blenio, over the Bassa di Nara and then through the Lucomagno pass, passing through the Medels valley that descended to Disentis. Dario Petrini, citing the volumes of Mario Vicari dedicated to the Blenio dialects ("Val Blenio") mentions Crüara and Cruara. In his opinion, the term derives from Churwalha, a compound of Chur (Chur) and Wal(a)ha, i.e. the territory of the Walh, an old High German word used to designate those who spoke a neo-Latin idiom, Romansh in this case, which was once also spoken in the Chur region.
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In his book, Father Angelico mentions correspondence between the diocese of Milan and the parish of Biasca, in which he complains about the unruliness of a priest, Agostino Canonico, who used to trade, something which was forbidden to the clergy at that time " .... Ha poca scientia, seguito mercanzia, per barattar cavalli va, viene da Cruala, …..".
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It is not possible to determine when the Nara road was opened, but it is assumed that the Romans were already familiar with it and that they crossed either the Lucomagno pass or the Gotthard pass via the Bassa di Nara. It is also assumed that it was only after the construction of the Biaschina bridge that the problem of entering the Leventina was solved and that the Nara road therefore lost interest, yet retaining a local function. Today, only a few sections of the mule track remain and they are described in the inventory of the historical communication routes of Switzerland (IVS):
The Nara mule track: Biasca - Prugiasco - Bassa di Nara - Molare - Campello - Osco - Madrano/Airolo:
From: 1) Le strutture ed il quotidiano: Chiggiogna, storia di un comune rurale dal basso Medioevo alla nascita del Patriziato, Fabrizio Viscontini, 2003; 2) Disgrazie nel Ticino nel 1584, Bollettino Storico della Svizzera Italiana, 1894, p 64; 3) I Leponti ossia memorie storiche leventinesi, Vol 1, Padre Angelico a cura di Cattaneo, 1990. 4) Blenio e Leventina. Da Barbarossa a Enrico VII, Bellinzona, Karl Meyer. 5) Valle di Blenio, Vol I, Mario Vicari, 1992; 6) Inventario delle vie di comunicazione storiche della Svizzera IVS TI 5, TI 4.