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Shepherd at Alpe Chiaromonte (Stage 35)

Walking the Gta

The GTA was created by a group of Italian enthusiasts in the 1970s to mirror a French itinerary, though the first highly informative guidebooks are long out of print. Since the mid-1980s Piedmont devotee Professor Werner Bätzing of the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg has been convincing a steady stream of German-speaking hikers to embark on the route from north to south, essentially Monte Rosa to the Mediterranean. It is probably due to their passage that the route still exists and hostels in out-of-the-way places continue to function. This English-language guide follows the original south–north direction with the aim of adding to the mammoth Sentiero Italia route (see Cicerone’s book on the GEA Trekking in the Appennines).

Not everyone has a full 47 days available to dedicate to the entire GTA (though the chances are that walkers who complete any section will be tempted back to continue with successive stretches). In order to make planning more manageable, in this guide the trek has been divided into four parts of approximately two-week lengths. Each is made up of one-day stages, concluding at a village or refuge where accommodation, meals and often transport are available.