Avigna in San Genesio Atesino and Ponticino in the Val Sarentino are the starting and finishing points of a new suspension bridge: It spans an impressive 270 metres across the Marterloch Gorge in the eponymous valley. This is a historic spot: A mule track used to pass through here in the days when people travelled on foot. Today, you can follow hiking trail no. 1 from either village to the suspension bridge. There are three alternatives for the return journey: From Ponticino towards Avigna, the descent to Mezzavia and return by bus - from Avigna to Ponticino and return by bus (changing at the San Genesio junction) - or the descent along the old mule track into the gorge.

The walk takes around three hours. However, the joint project by the municipalities of Val Sarentino and San Genesio Atesino is not just intended to impress visitors who set out on the hike to experience this adventure up close. Besides the thrill it provides, the Marterloch suspension bridge (Hängebrücke Marterloch) is also a lifeline: Beneath the bridge itself hangs the pipe that carries precious water from Val Sarentino to the water-scarce municipality of San Genesio Atesino.

By the way, the bridge is safe: Four steel cables are secured with a 30-metre anchor in the Sarentino porphyry and can support a weight of over 200 tonnes.