The excursion leads us to discover one of the oldest villages of the upper Varaita valley, already mentioned in some documents of the XVth century found in France, where it is called with the same name of today: Borgata Tenou.
Road access: from Turin’s ring road, near the Orbassano exit, take the expressway to Pinerolo. In Pinerolo, take the state road to Saluzzo, continuing to Verzuolo, where you turn right to the Val Varaita. After passing Sampeyre, continue for a few kilometres until you reach the hamlet of Torrette, a small settlement on the right bank of the Varaita stream, just before the start of the hairpin bends for Casteldelfino. Crossing the bridge over the Varaita river you arrive near Borgata Tenou. Leave the car in the parking lots outside the hamlet.
Route: After leaving the car, start the route entering the main road of Torrette, once trodden by merchants, armies and pilgrims. Start from the illustrated board located at the bottom of the hamlet towards the provincial road, go up to the hamlet until reaching the signpost U6 that turning to the right leads you to climb towards the woods. At a junction, you can choose between the path and the road, keep left for the trail, which soon goes into the beech forest passing by some locations marked with wooden signs, like Roucion. From this place until the arrival it is not rare to find traces of roe deer, wild boars and foxes. Along the route there is a votive pillar that stands out on the snow for its bright colours. A little further on you meet a stream to be crossed carefully on a narrow bridge. After a short climb, you reach the small hamlet of Brianzole Inferiore (1498 m) and continuing to climb you find Brianzole Superiore (1.545 m), where the motor road coming from Torrette ends. The path still climbs into the woods until you pass through some clearings and then on gentle slopes to finally reach the hamlet of Tenou, where a pretty little church offers shelter and a place to sit down to eat.
