Valle Cervo, in the province of Biella, offers a multitude of itineraries suitable for even the most experienced walkers. One of the most beautiful trails is an ancient mule track that leads from the pretty village of Piedicavallo to the very picturesque Lago della Vecchia (the Old Woman's Lake).
An old legend tells that, many years ago, a young stranger fell in love with a beautiful local girl. On a rock, not far from the lake, an altar was set up to celebrate their wedding, but the bride waited there all day and all night for her fiancé, but he never arrived. The next morning a man brought the maiden the sad news that her betrothed had been killed in the forest. The young man was buried at the bottom of the lake and the girl spent the rest of her life there until she grew old, living with a bear she had befriended, to watch over her beloved.
She died many years later, but even today, when the moon is full, there are those who claim that a ghost with a graceful figure and long white hair wanders on the surface of the lake.
