Riva Valdobbia / Riifu

Geography

The fraction of Riva Valdobbia is near the end of the Valsesia, the main Sesia Valley. It is a touristic place with a cross-country ski ring and an ice car track during the winter. It is known to be the only town where the south-east side of the Monte Rosa. Mollia, the town downriver, is behind a bend of the valley. West of Riva Valdobbia town, opens the Val Vogna, a side valley just in part served by paved road, on the old so-called Antica via d'Aosta "ancient Aosta Track", that united Riva Valdobbia with Gressoney-Saint-Jean through the colle di Valdobbia, the Valdobbia Pass. The name Riva is a common toponymic in Italy and easy to explain: the main town is on the edge of a cliff overlooking the crossing of the Sesia river and the Vogna torrent; thus it is on a steep slope, a Riva It is a popular belief that Valdobbia came from emigration traditions of seasonal works in France through the "Ancient Aosta Track". Families went up the Vogna Valley as Vanno in obbia, going to the balcony (obbia=Lobbia=Loggia), to see if the head of their household was coming back through the pass: hence the Valdobbia pass. That tradition was even supported by Tonetti, a local historian, while "Valdobbia" name existed well before the local people started to move regularly through the valley. De Saussure supposed the name val-dobbia came from the French doubler, overpass. Before that, Amé Gorret offered the translation of Val Dubbia, the valley in doubt, contended between the people of Gressoney and Valsesian—the border between the two went back and forth during history. The most ancient document so far found about the places gave probably the easiest answer: in 1251, Walser pioneers got permission to colonize the ground they could find going behind the mountain pass above…