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‘Intending visitors to the district should be warned that when the King of Italy is hunting around Cogne (the present King has not been there since 1885) they may find their movements impeded by fear of disturbing the game. This will seem however but a small hindrance when set against the great facilities which the royal hunting paths (passable for horses) afford to travellers on the less interesting portions of many of the ascents in this group.’

This introduction appeared a little over one hundred years ago in The Mountains of Cogne, one of the first guides to be published on the area. It was the work of alpine pioneers George Yeld and Reverend WAB Coolidge. In 1856 King Vittorio Emanuele II had unified several hunting grounds and declared a Royal Game Reserve. The move followed rulings in 1821 that prohibited hunting – except by royal entourages – in order to protect the ibex and chamois populations, which had fallen to wor-ryingly low levels.

Ibex in particular had been hunted intensely since medieval times. They were considered to be ‘walking pharmacies’ as their blood, horns, bones and even their droppings were used in remedies for everything from poisoning to rheumatism. A special talisman was even made of the tiny cross-shaped bone found in its heart, believed to guard the wearer against violent death.