Three Sections of the "Sentiero del Viandante" on Lake Como, Italy

December 29-31, 2018 -- Our final hike(s) of 2018 were not even in Switzerland, but on Lake Como in Italy.... which is close to Switzerland though, so it almost counts as "Hiking in Switzerland".

Instead of using our vacation days to travel 10 hours to the Riviera or Tuscany or the likes, we decided on a 3-hour trip to Menaggio and Varenna on Lake Como, where the weather was a mild 12 degrees. Recently we ran across information about a popular trail all along the East side of the lake (about 45 km total) called the "Sentiero del Viandante", originally a trading route used by the Romans to travel from Milano to Switzerland via Chiavenna North of the Lake. This "Wayfarer's Trail" seems to have become somewhat of a pilgrim's trail like the "Camino di Santiago di Compostela", with most tourists in the area wanting to walk some part of it.

The most popular and scenic section between Varenna and Dervio is about 15 km and we decided to do it in two days, with renting an apartment in Dervio for two nights (lovely apartment, but the heating didn't work... we managed to get the temperature up from 13 degrees to 18 degrees by using the baking oven!). Besides the fabulous views over the lake, we passed through some lovely olive groves, did detours into tiny villages with narrow alleys, and visited every church which was open to us, of which there were many! Plus ate lots of pizza and pasta...

Here are photos and summaries of each of the three days.....



DAY 1: The trip started with a 1-hour bus ride across the border from Lugano to Menaggio; Our bus driver spent the whole time on the phone (hands free) with his Mama and Co-worker planning his evening... and we almost got stuck in a bend in the road where another bus was coming up, and neither could back up any more. Things work differently in Italy. 

Bus ride along Lake Lugano starting in Lugano. This is Monte San Salvatore

It was a one-hour bus ride along Lake Lugano, crossing the border into Italy. We spent one hour in Menaggio before crossing with the ferry to Varenna

The road is called "Lungolago" (along the lake). In many places it was quite narrow, oncoming cars had to back up.

On our approach to Menaggio we almost ran into another bus on its way to Lugano. There were several cars behind him and several behind us, so manoeuvering became tricky.

We had lunch and walked through the lakeshore town of Menaggio before taking the ferry to the East side of Lake Como, to Varenna.

Macchiato coffee and toasted ham and cheese sandwiches at a lakeside café. Mostly just bikers passing through at this time of year

Walking through the mostly deserted alleys of Menaggio

Along the lakeshore in Menaggio, heading to the ferry docks. The palm trees are all packaged up for the winter.

The little ferry runs between Menaggio, Varenna and Bellagio every hour. It's a 5-minute traverse.

Looking back at Menaggio with its lovely sunny exposure

Approaching Varenna, lots of shade still on this side even though it is noon. Up on the hill is the tower (Castello di Vezio), that's where we are headed.

Varenna, on the East side of Lake Como, is a very popular tourist village in summer. We were here in September a year ago, and were looking forward to gelato, but the Gelateria (and most other restaurants) was closed, so we headed off on our hike up to the tower overlooking the village. We had read that the views up and down the lake were spectacular from there. 

Day 1 we hiked 8 km from Varenna to Bellano via the villages of Vezio and Perledo higher on the hill

First a little walk through Varenna. In summer, these passages are packed with tourists

This little village reminds me a lot of the fishing villages on the equally popular Cinque Terre region of Western Italy. 

The Trail "Sentiero del Viandante" passes through the village of Vezio above Varenna, so to start we had to zigzag up the hill to the tower, which not only is closed to the public from November to March, but costs 4 Euros to visit. So we had to be satisfied with the otherwise wonderful views we had along the rest of the trail to Bellano.

The trail was pretty well-marked

On the zigzag path heading up to the Tower of Vezio. Below is Varenna and the Monastery Gardens, across the lake is Menaggio and at the back, Switzerland.

All along the way we passed through olive groves. In the sun it was pleasantly warm

Once we arrived in Vezio we discovered the Castello Grounds were closed. We probably wouldn't have paid the entry fee anyway. 

Every village has unique alleys and buildings and we never tire of discovering them. 

From Vezio we get a glimpse of the village of Perledo. That church is our next destination, but we have to descend into a little ravine first.

At the bottom of the ravine at the old mill, it is cold in the shade. Not so terrible for the ascent to Perledo

Church of San Martino in Perledo

Every church has its unique ceiling.

From the bench in front of the Church in Perledo, where we had coffee and cookies, this is the view we had over Vezio and the tower we could not access

A couple of other critters enjoying the sunshine!

And finally Bellano below, the goal of today's 8 km hike. In the background is Dervio on the delta. That is where we had rented an apartment for two days. It was a quick train ride.

DAY 2:  On our second day hiking we took the train from Dervio back to Bellano where we ended the night before, and after a quick walk through the narrow alleys, and a simple lunch at "Arnold's Diner" near the lakefront, it was almost 1 p.m. by the time we started up the hill to join the Sentiero del Viandante Trail (sunshine had only just reached this part of the mountain)

Chiesa Santa Maria in Bellano, barely noticeable among all the other buildings

The ceiling in the Chiesa Santa Maria

We love checking out all the little side courtyards which we have access to

Up and down the alleys of Bellano

 

Finally enough sun to get going on our trail, which we reach by a set of stairs behing this church, where services had just finished. This is "Chiesa dei Santi Nazaro e Celso".

The stunning interior of this church in Bellano

The wind was very strong, about 50 km/h (and later we found out it was blowing up to 100 km/h in Como itself), and together with the very dry conditions in winter South of the Alps, this is an ideal setting for forest fires, one of which started later that afternoon at the North end of Lake Como and within minutes had brought the smoke down the entire lake. Lucky for us we were just 30 minutes from being back at the apartment at that point. 

We climbed up the long set of stairs from Bellano to reach a small community called Ombriaco, where there were loads of very narrow alleys to discover. And this church, which is not even named on the map.

Narrow alley and cool doors

View South over Bellano and Lake Como. You can see the strong wind on the lake. 

Another large church on this seemingly pilgrim's trail: "Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime" (Lady of the Tears)

And here the beautiful interior of this church "Madonna delle Lacrime"

Down below on that delta is the town of Dervio, where we had rented an apartment for two days.

The trail was pretty well marked, so you knew where to go!

The wind was very strong even though the temperatures were mild. At this point, we still had nice clean air (the smoke from the forest fires further down this valley hadn't reached us yet)

This photo was taken right next to another church called "San Gottardo", which was impossible to photograph. Also, the door was locked.

And within minutes, the valley was full of smoke from the forest fires. Good thing we were almost done with our hiking for the day

Whereas only minutes before we had a gread view over Dervio, it is now obscured by smoke.

Last section of the Sentiero del Viandante before heading through Dervio to our apartment and a pizza and a shower to get the smell of smoke out of my hair....

DAY 3:  On the third day we headed home via Lecco on the southeastern arm of Lake Como (typical bigger city, not nearly as charming as the villages along the lake, and on this 31st day of December most of the specialty shops and smaller bistros were closed). On our way there we walked the "first" section of the "Sentiero del Viandante" (the point furthest South) but were rather unimpressed with the actual starting point on the busy highway, and the San Martino Church which marks the start of the trail is totally cemented up and falling apart....  

These "attractive" trains were our transportation along the East Side of Lake Como. People kept crossing these tracks even though it is forbidden.

The forest fires were still burning on the North end of the lake, but here on the South end the skies were clear.

Our last short hike (4 km) started in this village called Mandello, here were my favourite houses and Church Interior

From the train station in Mandello to the lakefront we passed several beautifully-painted buildings.

This Church (San Lorenzo) in Mandello was my favourite as far as interiors go. It looked more like an Art Museum

I think what was most striking in this church was the large paintings. It was like a museum

On the way up the hill to join the trail, we passed an actual Orange Tree!

And the water bombers were still busy fighting the various fires from the day before

Above right is "Chiesa San Giorgio" on the Sentiero del Viandante. Below is the village of Mandello where we started.

We really wanted to see the start of the trail, but it was anticlimactic. The church there, San Martino, has long been in disuse, and we had to walk along the busy road to the train station in Abbadia Lariana.

We had a few minutes before heading to the train station, so headed to the lake to look back to the village of Mandello where we started.

Public Park with olive trees and beautiful mountain backdrop in Abbadia Lariana

From Abbadia we took the train to Lecco. Its most striking feature, the Campanile (bell tower) requires a reservation to go up, and the Romanesque Church, as large as it is, was not even open to the public

Lecco's most striking feature, the Campanile (Bell Tower)

This large romanesque church, Basilica di San Nicolo, was not even open for viewing, or we could not find the way in, which was a disappointment for the end of my "Pilgrimage"

We sat at the lakeshore and ate a picnic dinner and watched Santa's Boat Sleigh cruise by

And all was not lost in Lecco: We found the only open gelateria, and the gelato was fantastic....