Monte Galero stands on the watershed between the Tanaro and the Centa basins, on the border between Liguria and Piedmont, and its summit reaches 1708 metres. The Ligurian side, 3194 hectares, is a site of community importance and a special conservation area of the Liguria Region: wide, little-frequented woods, and along the ridge a row of rock spires the locals call the giants. Nasino climbs towards it from the south, up the Pennavaira valley.
What to see
The rock giants are what stays with you: sharp spires lined up along the crest, recognisable from a long way off. Below them the habitats change every few hundred metres — meadows, scrub, screes, woodland — and that alternation is the reason the area is protected. From the Ligurian side, on a clear day, you can see the sea; on the other side the mountain looks down on Garessio and the Tanaro valley.
Visiting
This is a protected area, not an equipped park: you walk on mountain paths, with no facilities up high, so start early and carry enough water. Anyone who looks at plants will find species that grow almost nowhere else: the Savona bellflower, Gentiana ligustica and Helianthemum lunulatum, a Ligurian Alps endemic left over from the ice ages; the mountain avens reaches the southern limit of its range right here. Among the animals there are golden eagles and black grouse, and on the screes rare beetles such as Percus villai.
Our editors' tip
Come in late spring, when the high meadows flower and the air is still clear of summer haze: the spires stand out sharply and the rare plants are at their best. The Nasino side is the quieter of the two.