It is rare for the Val Poschiavo, straight and without detours, hemmed in by stern mountain profiles, to give a side valley room to breathe. The most obvious exception is the Val di Campo (Val da Camp), a natural jewel of Switzerland, which opens on the right just north of Poschiavo and pushes forcefully towards Italy.
Two small Alpine lakes mirror dense conifer forests; and it is precisely these forests that, in the second half of October, offer the hiker (and the photographer) a spectacle with a strong autumn flavour: the larches give themselves over to warm shades of yellow and orange, while the firs seem to hold out against the coming winter by keeping their green needles, creating a contrast of colours not to be missed.
The entrance to the Val di Campo is near Sfazù (m1622), a small locality on the SS 29, where we first pass (on the right) the hotel that gives it its name, then a large car park (a little further on, on the left) where we can leave the car. Detailed signposting points us to the start of the track, which immediately enters a larch wood. Just a few minutes of climbing and the setting turns into a fairy tale: the road slips between pastures, huts, farmhouses and larch woods, set ablaze by the colours of autumn; all around, a crown of peaks dusted with snow.
Past the farmhouses of Salva, the road bends south and then enters a sparse grove: here we leave the dirt road (which we will instead follow in full on the way back) and take the turning that drops down on the right, crosses the river, goes through the meadows of Terzana and closes back into the woods. A few pools of water herald our first goal, the Lago di Saoseo (m2029, 1.30 hours), now only 20 minutes away. It appears quietly resting in a wide amphitheatre of mountains, lying on a bed of conifer trunks; the turquoise colours of the lake reflect the two tones of the surrounding woods, the green of the firs and the yellow of the larches, while to the W rises the white bulk of the Bernina.
We set off again along the N side of the lake, which disappears behind us, hidden by the trees as we go on. A short walk, level in several places, leads us to the tree line: here a second great natural basin opens up, holding the Lago di Val Viola (m2159, 30 minutes), less poetic than the Lago di Saoseo.
For the return it is better to stay on the orographic right side of the valley, so as to make the most of the mild autumn sun: after retracing the outward path for a short stretch, we take the turning on the right that leads us to the Rifugio Alpe Campo, at the top of a green slope; a place of peace in the cold months, it is besieged by hikers in the summer season. Here at the hut we find the end of the dirt road that we partly walked in the morning; we now follow it all the way, passing first the box-shaped Rifugio Saoseo, then once again through the meadows and huts that dot the lower part of the valley.
October and November days soon give way to sunset and dusk: so it is no surprise if, in the Val di Campo, by 4 in the afternoon we find ourselves walking through a painting in shades of red and orange: the light of the setting sun brings out the autumn colours of the larches and sharpens the stern lines of the surrounding peaks.
