Natural Park
The Monte Lera Nature Reserve was established in 1982 to protect and conserve one of the very few known sites of Euphorbia gibelliana, an endemic herbaceous species in Piedmont with an extremely small range.
The territory straddles the mountains that slope southwards towards the municipality of Givoletto and northwards into the Varisella valley.
The stretch of ridge protected by the reserve is rather wide and rounded; the rocky substratum, made up of ultra-basic rocks, is colonised by a sparse woodland dominated by downy oaks, lime trees, birches and hazelnut trees.
The stretch of ridge where the Chapel of the Madonna della Neve stands is at an altitude of about 1250 m above sea level. In 1815-16, the inhabitants of the villages of Moncolombone and Ramai, in order to invoke the protection of the Virgin Mary "in times of great calamity", built at their own expense, in Trucasso, to replace a pre-existing votive pillar, the chapel dedicated to the Madonna della Neve. In the second half of the 19th century, the small chapel was enlarged and embellished several times: the choir was added in 1872, the sacristy in 1881 and the bell tower in 1895.
The reserve can be visited freely.
The territory straddles the mountains that slope southwards towards the municipality of Givoletto and northwards into the Varisella valley.
The stretch of ridge protected by the reserve is rather wide and rounded; the rocky substratum, made up of ultra-basic rocks, is colonised by a sparse woodland dominated by downy oaks, lime trees, birches and hazelnut trees.
The stretch of ridge where the Chapel of the Madonna della Neve stands is at an altitude of about 1250 m above sea level. In 1815-16, the inhabitants of the villages of Moncolombone and Ramai, in order to invoke the protection of the Virgin Mary "in times of great calamity", built at their own expense, in Trucasso, to replace a pre-existing votive pillar, the chapel dedicated to the Madonna della Neve. In the second half of the 19th century, the small chapel was enlarged and embellished several times: the choir was added in 1872, the sacristy in 1881 and the bell tower in 1895.
The reserve can be visited freely.
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