Starting from the small square next to the town hall and parish church in Ceres, descend back towards Piazza Europa. Enter the pedestrian zone and proceed north along Via Roma. A few metres past the fountain, turn left into a narrow, initially covered alley that ascends steeply via stone steps.

Join a tarmacked road and follow it to the left. About a hundred metres further on, it narrows and becomes unsurfaced. Almost immediately, take a mule track on the right that climbs steeply through the woods, passing over natural ground, cobbled sections, and steep flights of steps.

Leaving a ruin on the right, a little higher up, cross a dirt track, passing under a power line. On reaching the forestry track again, take the path on the opposite side leading to the Piano di Ceres hamlet, from which the first views open up towards the Bessanese and the Uja di Mondrone, known with good reason as “the Matterhorn of the Lanzo Valleys”.

Back on the dirt track, follow it left past the foot of some ruins. It is worth making a short detour to the Cappella della Peste (Plague Chapel), so called because it was built in the late 16th century during an epidemic. Rather than a true chapel, it is a frescoed votive pillar into which only the priest would enter, while the faithful would spread out on the grass to reduce the risk of contagion.

Returning a few metres to the west without dropping back down to the dirt track, take a path that branches off beside a ruin. Cross the lane once more to reach La Balma, a structure built beneath a rocky overhang that was once used to store wheels of cheese.

Past the dirt track again, continue along the path, climbing roughly ninety metres in elevation to the Chapel of the Madonna degli Angeli, dating from the 18th century, where you rejoin the dirt track at its endpoint.

Pick up the path again and continue through mixed woodland, predominantly birch, which gives way to larch as you gain height.

With a long S-bend, reach a junction and ignore a right turn towards the unremarkable viewpoint of the Roc d’la Dent. Just beyond, at another junction, turn right to reach the Col Balance (1,272 m), from where your destination finally appears through the trees.

On a gentle descent, traverse the steep slope. Ignore a left turn and resume climbing with several zigzags. At a small col, the watershed with the Grande Valley, all that remains is to climb the very steep flight of steps (or the path to its left) to the Sanctuary of Santa Cristina (1,340 m), from where breathtaking views open up over the lower Grande Valley to the north and the entire Ala Valley to the west, closed at its head by the mighty Uja di Ciamarella, Bessanese and Punta d’Arnas (also known as Ouille d’Arbéron).

The building sits directly on the boundary between Ceres and Cantoira and, for this reason, is still contested between the two municipalities, albeit nowadays in a light-hearted spirit. Although it is the property of the municipality of Cantoira, which manages the chapel according to an ancient and complex tradition involving the appointment of a lay rector assisted by a pair of priors, it also partly falls within the municipality of Ceres, which has no intention of relinquishing its property rights.

Return by retracing the outward route. Alternatively, you can complete a loop by descending towards Cantoira.