Come and discover the wonderful Ciciu Natural Reserve of Villar San Costanzo, immerse yourself in a unique nature in the world, you will feel like immersing yourself in a fairy tale.

> Single admission to the CICIU Reserve: € 3.00 / each.



> Entrance for groups / school groups (min. 20 people): € 2.00 / each.

> Single entrance to the CICIU Reserve plus two-hour guided tour with naturalistic guide (minimum 10 people) € 6.00 / each.

> Entrance for groups / school groups plus two-hour guided tour with nature guide (minimum 20 people) € 5.00 / each.

Once you arrive at the Visitor Center, download the route map to help our ecosystem be less polluted.

The nature reserve was established in 1989, and is administered by the management body "Parco naturale del Marguareis"; it is located in Villar San Costanzo, in the locality of Costa Pragamonti (Val Maira), at an altitude between 650 and 950 m., and covers an area of 64 hectares. The reserve was created to protect a very particular phenomenon of erosion: the "erosion columns" (also called "earth pyramids", or "erosion mushrooms"), which rise at the foot of the massif of Monte San Bernardo. These formations are natural morphological sculptures, with a typical shape of mushrooms, whose cap is made up of an erratic boulder (even of considerable size) and whose stem is made up of earth and rubble. In this area these erosion columns take the popular name of ciciu, a Piedmontese word that means puppet, puppet. In 2000 a census was carried out by Alberto Costamagna, researcher of the Physical Geography department of the University of Turin, during which 479 formations concentrated in an area of about 0.25 km², sometimes isolated, were counted. times grouped. The size of the formations can also vary: the height can range from half a meter of the lowest, up to 10 meters of the highest, although generally it does not exceed 2 meters; the diameter of the "stem" varies between 1 and 7 m. (generally around 3 m.), while that of the "hat" can reach up to 8 m. This natural phenomenon is similar to that of the earth pyramids of South Tyrol, which led to the formation of erosion columns in the Renon and Plata areas, or to the fairy chimneys of Cappadocia; but earth pyramids are also visible in Segonzano (Trento), Cislano (Brescia) and Postalesio (Sondrio).

Over the centuries various legends have developed on the origin of these erosive formations: either the fruits of spells or the fruits of miracles. For example, according to a legend, the ciciu would be formed at night as a result of the masche, the witches of Piedmontese folklore, or they would be masche transformed into stone, after a hurricane that would have interrupted a magical ritual of a Sabbath, with disastrous consequences. But the most widespread legend is that the "ciciu" formed following a miracle of San Costanzo, a Roman legionary of the "Theban" legion who, according to tradition, was martyred around the year 303-305 AD, during the persecution of Christians carried out by the emperor Diocletian. It is said that San Costanzo had reached Mount San Bernardo, to escape 100 Roman soldiers who wanted to kill him; all of a sudden he turned to the legionaries who mocked and threatened him with death, and said to them: "O wicked incorrigible, o sad hearted of stone! In the name of the true God I curse you. Be stones too!", and so yes formed the "Ciciu". However, this was not enough to save the saint, who was joined by other legionaries, and killed on Mount San Bernardo: in the twelfth century the sanctuary of San Costanzo al Monte was built in the place of the killing, which can still be visited today.

Morphology: the "ciciu" are rocky fungi composed, as mentioned, of two parts: from a "cap" of occhiadino gneiss, a type of metamorphic rock of magmatic origin characterized by coarse bands of alternately light and dark minerals, typical of Dora-Maira massif (alpine geological domain that extends from the lower Valle Maira to the middle Valle Susa); and a "stalk" of earth and crushed stone, consisting mainly of a fine fraction (90% silt and sand, 10% clay), to which are added fragments of quartz, gneiss and micascists: a very friable mixture, cemented by a silica matrix rich in iron oxides, which gives it its typical reddish color.

The territory of the Ciciu del Villar is a true jewel of the Piedmontese environmental heritage, both for its peculiar geological characteristics and for the richness of the flora that can be observed in these few protected hectares. The dense woods and rocky outcrops that emerge from the vegetation make it the ideal habitat for many plant species, which in turn favor a wide variety of fauna. Careful observation reveals a preponderance of habitats modified by human activities over the centuries and only apparently natural. In reality the area has been cultivated for a long time (the vine is very important), alternating periods of abandonment of agricultural activity. Since the establishment of the nature reserve, the flora has gradually changed, with areas recolonized by fake acacias and birches, along with elder, cherry and Scots pine. Downy and sessile oak tower over the other trees. Over time they will come to dominate the forest of this mountainous strip, when its natural habitat will be regained by the chestnut, planted by past human generations as the "bread tree". The information huts themselves are relics of the area's agricultural history. In areas not yet planted with trees, species typical of warm areas proliferate: broom, heather, St. John's wort, lemon balm and fragrant thyme. Aspen, sycamore and larch grow higher on the slopes, while the peaks are home to birch trees, which bear the marks of numerous fires, with a dense undergrowth of blueberries and ferns.

The warm and dry slopes of the nature reserve are home to deciduous forests that offer shelter to many fauna species. The easiest species to observe are birds such as the great spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, great tit, blue tit, nuthatch, long-tailed tit, creeper, and jay. Among the birds of prey we note the common buzzard and the rarer peregrine falcon, which can be observed hovering in the sky and nesting near the reserve. At dusk you can hear the owl singing and in summer the continuous hum of the rare nightjar is rather disturbing. The owl calls closer to the plain of Villar. There are numerous species of rodents, including the rare dormouse and dormouse, while the largest mammals found most frequently are roe deer and, more rarely, wild boars. Observant visitors will notice the traces left by foxes and various mustelids, including the stone marten and the badger. The local climate attracts reptiles, the most common being the green rat snake, occasionally the viper, and the small smooth snake which feeds mainly on insects. Be especially careful around the huts, as they like to hide in damp, shady places between crevices. On rainy days, the common toad is often seen, and in particular the salamander: the queen of the nature reserve, which lays its eggs in puddles and streams. In case of bad weather, be very careful not to step on these amphibians on the trails.

The erosion columns of Villar San Costanzo, locally called "Ciciu", began to rise at the end of the last ice age of the Wurm, about 12,000 years ago. They are the result of the erosion of widespread runoff, the waters of which flowed at the base of the slope into a torrent indicated on ancient maps as "fons si magna", that is a very large source, today Fanssimagna. While the erosive phenomenon is quite recent, the deposit of the debris that make up the stone fungi is older. The stem is formed by a reddened soil with small angular pebbles, a sign of a short transport within the streams. They deposited a fan-shaped alluvial fan at the foot of the mountain, as often happens when a stream flows into a valley floor, losing speed due to the change in slope. The cap, on the other hand, is made up of large boulders of occhiadino gneiss, metamorphic rocks derived from granite, which collapsed with landslides from the top of the mountain and piled chaotically on the alluvial fan. At least two distinct levels of landslides are observed, as in the case of the famous "Family", where it appears that the children are older than the parents who dominate them. Only with the subsequent erosion did the levels of the buried rocks gradually re-emerge: while the clayey soil not repaired was quickly dragged downstream by the streams, the one compacted under the weight of the large boulders remained in place, forming the original earth columns surmounted by a rock hat.

Why did streams first deposit the topsoil in an alluvial fan and then erode it by digging up the stone fungi? To change their behavior means that something has happened in the surrounding landscape. First, the Maira River, which flows into the nearby Villar plain, after the last ice age began to dig a deep gorge inside its sediments, made up of large rounded pebbles. This erosive phenomenon, active in the last 12,000 years, is evident going up the valley from Busca to San Damiano Macra: for example, it can be admired on the side walls of the Pedancola sul Maira, which crosses the river connecting Villar to the Monastery of Dronero. Secondly, there was a drastic change in the path of the stream downstream of the Ciciu, which previously flowed into the Maira near the hamlet of Morra, as shown by an ancient relict river valley, now dry, in the area called Tagliata. The Fanssimagna then changed its course, merging into the Rio Talù (a phenomenon called “river capture”) and reaching the Maira river in Busca, much lower than previously. The combination of the two processes, linked to the general lifting of the ground and the change of path of the Rio Fanssimagna, has unleashed an erosive wave that has propagated backwards in the lateral tributaries and on the slope where today we can admire 480 giant stone mushrooms, in the magical forest of the Ciciu del Villar.



the area is always open and can be visited all year round, it is equipped with toilets and areas equipped for picnics. At the "Visitor Center" you can find promotional and educational material and information brochures, and the park rangers are available to provide any kind of information on the Nature Reserve. Guided tours for schools are available upon reservation. Visitors can enjoy three different routes to get to know and admire the Ciciu del Villar: the tourist route (Ciciuvagando), with a travel time of about 45 minutes; the hiking route that starts from a branch of the tourist route and winds along the Costa Pragamonti, in the direction of Colle Liretta, with a travel time of about two hours; the gymnastic course, with 16 stations equipped with wooden sports equipment along a valley of about 500 meters. Furthermore there is the possibility of reaching Colle della Liretta in about 3 hours, from which you can launch yourself with hang gliders and paragliders. Since the end of 2007 the area has also become a reference site in the Cuneo area for the practice of bouldering; however, it should be noted that this activity is practiced on the boulders and rock formations that are on the edge of the reserve, and not on the "ciciu" (also because it is absolutely forbidden to climb the "ciciu", as such an activity would risk irreparably ruining them. ).