Refugio Città di Chivasso via col de nivolet

Long  but beautiful hike from Le Pont parking (Valsavarenche valley ) same as for going to Gran Paradiso glacier, but opposite side.Path starts through the forest - slowly going up until the point where there are several serpentines quick climbing 400 m up . First view point: Croce Roley (2314 m). From here,after a few meters  you come to a crossroad. Continue on the left along the same route , which goes into the valley of Dora del Nivolet. The path goes along a grassy plateau and passes next to the pastures of Grand Collet and Nivolet. There plato is the home of a lot of marmote and cows.  There are the remains of the old hameau of nivolet. There is also a second path cutting through the mountains on the right- the government wanted to build a road to link col de nivolet and le Pont , yet this road was never finished . Then the path goes up a bit and  joins a dirt road and shortly afterwards becomes paved. This leads to Col Nivolet near the lakes of the same name and the Savoia and Chivasso refuges. Place is reached by car from Piemonte - therefore expect lots of people in high season. On sundays cars are limited - but there is a regular bus taking people to the lakes .One can have typical food (polenta , fontina cheese and charcuterie ) at the refuge Chivasso. We walked a bot up on the road from the refuge to get to a viewpoint with amazing views on the lakes Serru and Agnel and then did a small tour between the cows on top of refuge Savoia. Descending towards the lake de Nivolet and taking the same long but easy path back to le Pont.