The Oasi Zegna is a freely accessible area in the Biella Alps, covering about 100 km². It was established in 1993, but its roots lie in the Thirties and in the work of Ermenegildo Zegna, the industrialist who in 1910 founded the firm bearing his name at Trivero and who came from these mountains.
What to see
In the Thirties Zegna began to devote himself to social and welfare works for the community, and at the same time to environmental protection: he strengthened the area's hydrogeological defences and started a reforestation programme that led to the planting of over 500,000 conifers. That is why the landscape you cross today is not spontaneous but designed, and should be looked at in that knowledge: those woods were put there.
Visiting
In 1938 Zegna promoted the building of a scenic road, today the provincial road 232 Panoramica Zegna, which still crosses the oasis and opens wide views over the valleys and mountains around. It is the most direct way to take in the whole: you drive or cycle it, and the footpaths start from there.
Our editors' tip
It is worth keeping in mind what you are looking at: in 1993 the area became the Oasi Zegna with the declared aim of making enterprise, environment and local development live together, and in 2014 it received the patronage of the FAI. It is not a public park and it is not a company: it is a long-running experiment in how to hold together a mountain that was emptying out.