Lago Santo and the Lagabrun peat bog

<p>A relaxing trip through the spruce, birch and beech forests on the Dossone di Cembra</p>

<p>This route along straightforward forest tracks for the most part begins at Rifugio Lago Santo di Cembra, where footpath SAT 414 (Sentiero Italia) begins, a short walk to the Lagabrun peat bog, a biotope of particular importance for the fauna which shelters in it, including many species of invertebrate, some of which are especially rare. A curiosity: a species of aquatic beetle found in the Lagabrun peat bog has been given the scientific name Agabus lagabrunensis precisely because of the importance of the place it was found in.</p> <p>From Lagabrun the route follows the footpath SAT 409A in the direction of Pozze – Passo della Crocola, that leads to Rifugio Sauch. Just before the Rifugio there is the suggestive Roccol del Sauch: an ancient and sophisticated system for capturing birds through a complex plant construction.</p> <p>After a restorative stop at Rifugio Sauch, the route then follows: first a dirt road in the woods and then the SAT path E409 towards a forestry hut up to Zise, above the village of Ponciach (Faver). Here, take footpath SAT 415 (European footpath E5) to Vegiose and Val Fredata, before returning to Lago Santo, a splendid 1200-metre-high glacial origin lake set in a mixed spruce, birch and beech forest which is very northern European in feel. Its name is bound up with a legend. It is said that where the lake now stands the land was once bitterly fought over by heirs until one day, in desperation, one of these expressed the wish that it would turn into a lake. From that moment on the water levels started to rise. Worried about the danger hanging over them the people of Cembra set off to the area in pilgrimage and, when the parish priest threw the Virgin Mary's ring into the lake, the waters stopped rising.</p>