Alta Langa is hosting for the fourth consecutive year the activities organized by Interfaces, the design studio of the first-year master’s program in Architecture for Sustainability at Politecnico di Torino, entitled Bormide. Ecologies and Practices of a River.

More than 50 international students from Politecnico, together with faculty and researchers, will be engaged in moments of explorations, data collection, interviews and dialogue with local communities, in order to reflect on the future of the territories linked to the river and the valleys.

The objective is to answer two questions:

• How is the relationship with a river changing—long a terrain of conflict over environmental pollution—in the face of new forms of naturalness?
• How is the relationship of inhabitants with the valley roads changing—once territorial and social infrastructures connecting services and local hospitality facilities, today largely abandoned or underutilized?

The initiative, organized with the support of Parco Culturale Alta Langa APS and the Unione Montana Alta Langa, will involve several municipalities along the course of the river and the provincial road SP 439.

The walk

These days of research conclude with the walk from Mombarcaro to Monesiglio: Encounter with the Bormida. An immersive walk through the river landscape – accompanied by Filippo Gelfi, Francesca Maggioni, and Matteo Togni (Paesaggi Prossimi).

⁠⁠The route involves a walk of approximately 8 km split into two groups. The first will pass through the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie, Noceto Sottano, and the Sanctuary of S. Maria d’Acqua Dolce, while the second will reach the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie passing through Valle before continuing on to Gesuole and Bertole.

Crossing woods, cultivated areas, and settlements, the walk offers a reading of the landscape attentive to the relationships between natural elements, human activities, and transformations of the territory.

Along the way, brief moments of observation and discussion will accompany participants in discovering the traces, stories, and processes that help shape the landscape of Valle Bormida.

The river, which we will encounter at the end of the walk, will be the guiding thread for recognizing the role of water in the construction and ongoing transformation of the territory.