Via di Santa Lucia, 6, 38069 Nago-Torbole TN
Busatte – Tempesta route: a balcony over Lake Garda
The Busatte – Tempesta path is one of the most popular treks in the Lake Garda area. The round-trip excursion unfolds over a distance of 10.4 kilometers and, with an average pace, can be done in just over three hours.
The itinerary – inaugurated in 2005 – crosses a luxuriant typically Mediterranean vegetation along a steep ridge overlooking the lake. But don't worry: in the most exposed passages and in the steepest points there are iron stairways to allow you to cross safely.
The Busatte – Tempesta route is classified as a panoramic tourist excursion, and although the route follows the slopes of Monte Baldo (120 meters above sea level) the difference in altitude is practically imperceptible. All along the promenade there are signs illustrating the local flora and fauna, the mountains and the panoramas around Riva del Garda and Torbole.
PATH
Where do we start from? After leaving the car in the parking lot near the Busatte park, you pass the adjacent restaurant and the sports field up to the first signs indicating the Busatte – Tempesta path. The first four kilometers of the route are practically flat and present no difficulty.
On the contrary: crossing the wood, they immediately offer majestic panoramas of Torbole and the upper Lake Garda, including Monte Misone, Monte Brione, and the forts of the Great War. After about twenty minutes here are the first fixed directly into the rock. These stairways, with their total of 400 steps, are a valid aid for overcoming the ridges, the most demanding gradients, and the various stony ground that you come across along the way, the result of massive landslides to which this side of Lake Garda has been subjected since the end of the last glaciation. Once you have passed the two ridges of the Corno di Bò and the Salt de la Cavra, spectacular views of Lake Garda will open before your eyes. One point in particular manages to enclose all the beauty of the largest lake in Italy, it is the point from which this body of water seems to have no end, and on which the towns of Malcesine, Limone, Tremosine, Torri del Benaco and Sirmione are reflected. An hour and a half later you reach a crossroads: keeping to the right and continuing downhill you reach the village of Tempesta, going up to the left along the forest road you take a loop which in a short time rejoins the Busatte – Tempesta path.
The advice for those wishing to return to Torbole on foot is to get off at Tempesta and take the bus from here. (A curiosity: Tempesta, at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, marked the border with Italy). Alternatively, it is possible to take the road to the left and continue uphill along the forest road which alternates with ladders and walkways along the entire route, a way to admire the splendid panoramas from an elevated point of view.
FOR EXPERT HIKERS
Returning from the walk along the Foresta – Busatte path, before returning towards Busatte, you can take the forest road and then take a path that enters the woods and ends up joining the Paloni Bassi path. It is possible to follow this itinerary uphill and then back down in about two hours towards Busatte. This is an unmarked and quite adventurous route; therefore, it is recommended only for more experienced hikers.
