THE FUNICULAR OF REGOLEDO Suddenly the path gets past a deep A LITHOLOGICAL The path, and large man-made wall: it is what BOUNDARY always duly remains of the funicular which, at Looking closely at the walls along marked with the beginning of the century, linked the track, you will notice that at modest mo- up the railway station to the imposing hydrotherapic place, a certain point the stones numents to the founded at Regoledo by Francesco become different from those seen popular faith, Maglia in 1858. The Grand Hotel before. At first they are greyish calcareous stones or purple red lowers toward Regoledo, as was called in those the railway times, had renowned guests among porphyries then there are very which Arturo Toscanini, Ippolito clear granitic stones (gneiss and station, gets Nievo, Amilcare Ponchielli, padre schist). The fact is that you have over a small Agostino Gemelli, Massimo D’Azeglio, got past the partition line bridge on the Antonio Stoppani, Cesare Cantù. between the sedimentary cover, typical of the foothills of the Alps dell of Biosio The strange building, very long and and goes down narrow, is now a branch of the and which was formed in the Istituto Sacra Famiglia of Cesano Triassic period (250 - 210 millions in sight now of Boscone and can be seen high up, of years ago), and that of the the Pioverna crystalline base that here dominating a wide green clearing. delta where emerges. Bellano lies. The quiet Cappella della Madonna Addolo- rata (Chapel of Our Lady of Sor- rows) comes before the junction with the provincial road 62. This must be walked up for a few dozen of metres on the right to pick up the track again and to cross the bridge of San Rocco over the Pioverna stream that just here under forms the Orrido The path gets near Bellano. di Bellano (Bellano Ravine) re- Now and then some clea- cently brought back to its origi- rings arranged in terraces nal beauty. This ravine, the pro- open out with rows of vostal Church dedicated to the wines or thin strips of Saints Nazaro, Celso and Giorgio, grass. the wooden statues of the small church dedicated to Saint Marta, the alleys and the narrow, shady THE BOUNDARY Going on you will notice a set- yards of the old town centre will STONES tlement crossed by the path and at last take up any wait for the They are on the edge of the mule set on three levels along the train to come back to Varenna. track. They are three and are slope. The higher up building Varenna, February 2009 engraved with the date 1732 and has signs of a certain distinction the initials of the municipalities of Perledo and Bellano that with a decorated portal and a border here. Further on you will nice small balcony. Known as Text by Albano Marcarini and Paolo Ferrara find again other stones because the Fabbrica it had different Photographs by Paolo Ferrara the administrative limit ran along uses in the past: tavern, Translation by Maria Piera Malvezzi the path. “bigattiera” (the place where Near the stones there is a modest Grafica PIFERUS silkworms were kept), farrier’s chapel that has a precious di P. Ferrara e P. Rusconi Crucifixion of the XV century. workshop and cellar – still used today – for wine making. Stampa: Grafiche Rusconi Bellano On the Wayfarer’s Path, from Varenna to Bellano On the Wayfarer’s Path, from Varenna to Bellano YSOR A Extract of the KOMPASS map n. 91, license n. 82-1108-LAB Time needed Suggested period Half a day, considering the different stops Autumn, spring This walk is a short, but attractive part of a much T longer excursion route, fitted out in 1989 and called “Wayfarer path”. It runs from Varenna to Bellano along a thin mule track that winds along the side of the mountain among chestnut woods and mild cultivated slopes. In a few hours time it collects the best of the landscape characters in this part of Lombardy: majestic landscapes, botanical and geological peculiarities, tokens of faith, places of the popular imagination, scraps of fields, rustic houses, vineyards and olive groves which create a frame that has been From Piazzetta Belvedere in Vezio, where sung by poets and writers at length and the signposts can clearly be seen, the path for a long time. Not least there are the And now it is time to start THE gets down with cobbled steps (on the sides very works of the route – that is the our walk. BLACK MARBLE wide patches of allium ursinum which The path goes on pavement, the large steps, the bridges QUERRIES OF VARENNA smell fills the air in spring) and it crosses and soon it beco- – that show a building science that The lake has the power to the valley of the Esino stream. Opposite The abbot Amoretti, in 1824, mes a mule track has never been codified in rules, but mitigate the climate and stated to be “that hard and pretty an industrial area, the Wayfarer’s Path climbing a short has been shared owing to the daily often, also in full winter, marble that we call occhiadino, goes immediately uphill to the charming slope on the right, practical use much before the inven- an excursion in these because it by many eyes seems small church of Madonna di Campallo, after an old house, tion of the piston engine. To stop for places reveals in advance formed and it is composed of passing under its porch adorned with two blackish marble and white spar, and then it joins a while on the meaning of these routes the first warmth of spring. cypresses. that now and then fills the the road of Rego- in history will help to enjoy better the The path is well marked Then it reaches Regolo (320 m.), a lovely openings left by the sea bodies ledo near the rustic zest of the route. Through the centuries with orange metal arrows village that in its centre hides a medieval intermingled ”. Cappella Maglia Lake Como has been a favourable na- and plates and this saves Divide Bertolotti, in 1821, noted house-tower and the baroque church de- (XVIIIcentury) that tural link for the trade from Milan ning scheme always facing many boring descriptions. down in his Journey on Lake dicated to Saint John the Baptist. has been recently towards the regions beyond the Alps. the water, with narrow At Olivedo, behind a hotel, just next Como: “Then we walked by the Going along Vicolo Stretto it gets out on restored. We must remember, in fact, that before allies and steps which to an old marble plate of CAI, signpo- querries of marble which layers, a sharp turn of the carriage road which overwhelming the lake in a nearly The thick chestnut the advance of the Adda delta (XV steeply went down to the sting the Capanna Monza, we take must be followed downward nearly as far perpendicular line, make the work wood towering THE DRY STONE WALLS century) in the lower part of the Val- landing places. Among the Via della Croce. So the stepped rise as the next turn of the road where it takes of extraction hard and risky; so above is called Up to now, walking along the path, tellina and of the drainage of the villages they mostly toward Vezio begins and it will be you will certainly have had the chance Via alla Cava Bassa. that you often see workers, tied Bosco delle Streghe Chiavenna Plain, the Lario extended communicated sailing followed as far as the small settlement in the air with ropes, hitting with to notice the beauty of the walls that Not far away, wonderful views straight to (Witch-wood); if itself much more to the north then along the coast. However lying on a saddle at about 150 metres the tools on the hard stone, delimit it. They are mighty manufac- the lake can be savoured, in spite of the during the day it tured works that sometimes are ne- now. So Como, or Brivio (according not all the wayfarers could above the lake level. In Vezio it is hanging on the precipice.” building intervention that has badly upset has really nothing arly two metres hight. The stones to the preference for one or the other afford a boat, or were in advisable a short diversion towards keep and balance themselves simply The track goes always at what a few years ago was a place full of disquieting, at the of the two branches of the lake) could a position to pay a tran- the castle, before walking along the by compression without the need of a certain height above charm and of history. sunset the dark branches of the very old be linked with a certain rapidity, by sfer and in those turbulent Wayfarer’s Path. mortar or of other binder. Where the lake: looking chestnut trees suddenly seem to become they do not fit exactly thinner stones waterway, with the port of Riva di times there was also the skinny hands of witches outstretched toward are inserted so to make the wall solid backward one can see the Chiavenna and from there, by land, frequent need to move troops and animals the sky… The road gets down to a junction, and compact. In fact it is exposed to Punta di Morcate, where to Coira crossing the Spluga Pass or that were obliged to follow a land route. THE VEZIO CASTLE where the mule track starts again on the left: very strong pressures and you can the seasonal presence of that of Settimo.