Monte Musinè, as seen from the Po Plain - photo Filippo Ceragioli

Less than twenty kilometres from the centre of Turin, a city which, with its industrial belt, counts almost two million inhabitants, there is Mount Musinè, one of the most popular hiking destinations in northern Italy.  It’s a very peculiar mountain: its advanced position in relation to the Po Valley offers those who reach the summit a beautiful 360º panorama, and the strategic position has favored human presence since at least the Bronze Age.

Chatting with people in Turin or in the Susa Valley, you may hear that Monte Musinè is an ancient volcano, and that it is pierced by tunnels left by prehistoric  lava flows.  It’s a fascinating idea, but not true.  Nobody has actually seen those tunnels, and the mountain is mainly composed of peridotite.  This is a kind of igneous rock associated with ancient ocean floors, brought to the present-day location by tectonic movements.  The soils originating from this rock are very rich in magnesium and sustain unique flora, quite distinct from other mountainous areas of the western Alps.

The mountain also has its own particular mystical dimension, and is frequented by groups of ufologists, meditation enthusiasts and followers of esoteric cults and pre-Christian religions.  In 2017 it was recognized by the European Union as a "Special Area of Conservation", for the great variety of flora and fauna living in the different ecological niches it offers to living organisms.

At a height of 1150 metres and a prominence of 202 metres (see here on Peakbagger), this mountain is easy and quick to reach, ideal not only for full-day trips but also for short morning or evening escapes.  The best-known path to the top is the "Costa della Croce", which starts from the sports field of Caselette (a village at the foot of the mountain) and reaches the summit after 3.6 km of hiking and 750 metres of altitude gain.  This route has always been very popular among Piedmontese hikers and runners as a training and testing ground.  When marathon runners introduce themselves, they often share their best time over 42 km.  Similarly, mountain runners in the Turin area might boast their own record for the ascent of Musinè.

The "Costa della Croce" trail is not the only one, and at least five or six other different paths converge on the top of Musinè.  They can be linked together, creating a wide variety of circular itineraries.  Often going to Musinè is also the first real mountain hike for the young people of Turin, and in the area one may even experience dawn drinking or singing with friends, or get away for an intimate moment with a loved one.  And, when you’re older and more interested in edible delicacies than in social or sexual intercourse, you can go back to the Musinè for tasty mushrooms, which in autumn grow particularly abundantly.

Thus visitors to Musinè often return over and over again to the mountain, for this or that reason.  Some become so attached to it that the climb to the summit becomes a very personal ritual for them.  There are those who open a new year with a climb to the great cross that stands on top of the mountain, and those who, before Christmas, decorate with stars and glass baubles a small pine tree located halfway between the cross and the Caselette sports field.  Before making an important decision, two steps on the Musinè can clear the mind; after an event that has deeply affected or stressed us, its beneficial influence can help us calm down and see the things that happen to us from a different perspective.  

The tobacconist who ran for decades the shop in Caselette is said to have climbed to the top almost every afternoon for years, after closing his shop. They also say that, thanks to all this training, he was able ro reach the summit in less than half an hour, when for an average hiker a couple of hours is not a bad performance.  ln all his years of activity, who knows how many hundreds of ascents he must have collected? Perhaps many other mountain lovers or runners have also succeeded in this feat, or at least they attempted to do so.  In short, poly-bagging may still seem like a rather strange and esoteric activity to most Italians, but to fans of Monte Musinè there is not so much to explain.