A Walk along the Italian Border in the very South of Switzerland near Stabio

Friday December 31, 2021 -- Final hike of the year!!!

After several weeks of rather depressing weather, we finally have some sunshine! But the sunshine can only be found ABOVE the fog, and the mild temperatures have melted a large amount of the snow which the higher elevations received earlier in December. In winter, a mountain "hike" on prepared winter trails has to include lots of crunchy snow and snow-covered trees, but this is no longer the case. Dry streets, wet snow on the trails, brown hillsides showing through the snow.... not attractive to me.

So this means... another trip to the South!!!  We are running out of places to hike there now, so a lot of our day hikes cover some of the ground we had already done before. Like this time, when we started in Meride on Monte San Giorgio, the first part of our 3-hour hike was a bit of déjà-vu. (Photos from the last time we were here can be viewed at this LINK). But this time we walked up to the Tremona Archeological Park to admire the excavations of the medieval village discovered there, a restoration which took 10,000 man-hours and 11 years to complete. (Remains from the Bronze Age were also found here). 

From there the rest of the "hike" was basically a walk through vineyards, villages and forests, mostly in the pleasant sunshine (almost too warm) and a large part along the Italian border, as that's the closest we can get to going to Italy at the moment. And of course, every church that wasn't locked had to be visited, as I am always looking for some fabulous artwork. Many of these buildings are like their own art museums....

NOTE: Monte San Giorgio is one of Switzerland's 13 UNESCO World Heritage Sites because of the massive amounts of prehistoric items found here. (Regarded as the best fossil record of marine life from the Triassic Period --> See also HERE).  

On our way up to Meride from Mendrisio by bus, we pass the Sant'Antonio Church in Besazio, one of several churches along our walking trail. 

In Meride we study the trail markers: First we want to visit the Archeological Park. From there to Tremona and Besazio, but it will take longer, as we are going over the hill instead of around it.

Some interesting details in the village of Meride

Of course there is a church in Meride (Two actually... The other would have had frescoes but required a detour, so we didn't go) but the building itself was difficult to photograph. This is the inside.

Main street in Meride!

(This photo of Meride was taken two days earlier by a friend of Urs' who did the same hike we did. He found a look-out point which we missed.)

We walked altogether about 13 km and 3.5 hours in the area around the border to Italy. Stabio has a new train station with direct connections from Lugano to the Malpensa Airport in Italy).

This is what the archeological excavation looks like from above. It took 11 years to systematically excavate the hilltop. Many mason apprentices helped over the years, as it was a good opportunity for them to learn how to restore the walls. The medieval village seems to have been abandoned in the 14th Century. But items were found here that dated back to the Bronze Age.

Discovering the Tremona Archeological Park

It took 11 years to restore the base walls of this medieval village on the hilltop

Lots of interesting information to learn about what life would have been like in this village

From here on the hill you can see all the way to the Monte Rosa Massif on the West side of Switzerland

Zoomed view of the Valais Alps (Monte Rosa Massif, with the highest peak in the Swiss Alps)

Heading down the mountain to Tremona. Someone did some random Christmas decorations in the forest!

In Tremona at the Info Center is a large poster of an artist's concept of what the village might have looked like in the middle ages before it was abandoned

Chiesa dell'Assunta is the parish church in Tremona. There is another chapel (St.Agatha) on a nearby hill, but we didn't go up to it, but rather walked around the hill. 

Documented in 1538, this has been the parish church in Tremona since 1770

A sole flower in the forest! And even a bee, or maybe a fly disguised as a bee....

Walking through these villages, we came upon many interesting wall paintings. Some of them I recall from our previous hike through here 

From Tremona we arrive at the parish church in Besazio: Chiesa dell' Immacolata, built in 1654 and rebuilt at the end of the 18th Century

A very beautiful organ in the parish church in Besazio

Higher on the hill behind the parish church in Besazio is the church of Sant'Antonio which we passed on the way up by bus. This one has frescoes inside, which I love to look at, but the building was locked. 

Wall lizards are also enjoying the sunshine!

We found a good place in the sun for our picnic lunch!

Here above the Immaculata Church, we get a good view over the region called Mendrisiotto. The hills in the background are in Italy

A great climate for vineyards here. This view is of the South end of the Monte Generoso Range

A quick scoot over the border into Italy for a photo. Urs said he would not rescue me if I got caught here without a PCR test!

Heading into Stabio where there is a new train station that Urs needed to see. That building is called a "castello", but is a rather ugly building. We did take a detour up there so we could look down on the train station which is on the other side. But not anything great to look at. 

These two buildings in Stabio were interesting to look at. The one on the right is dedicated to Mary. The other is the parish church called "Chiesa dei Santi Giacomo e Cristofero" and has a beautiful and artistic interior.

Splendid ceiling in the parish Church "Santi Giacomo e Cristofero"

This church is like an art museum

It's like being in an art museum, but no people and no charge to get in!

Heading back down from the castello (after a short detour up this small hill), past the churches, and then on to the train station. 

A look North toward Monte San Giorgio. Our hike started at the foot of that mountain. The hill with the archeological park is hidded from here. Straight ahead is Besazio with its two churches, where we had our picnic lunch. 

After a forested stretch with muddy trails along the Italian border, we emerge near the end of our hike. In the background is Monte Generoso. We have been up there only once. 

Here in this tiny cluster of houses called Brusata is our bus stop. That chapel might have had interesting frescoes inside, but it also was locked. It's now 3 p.m.

The palm trees are a reminder of the relatively mild weather here!

This is the southernmost part of Switzerland. We walked 13 km from Meride at the foot of Monte San Giorgio and along part of the Italian border to Brusata. 

Changing trains in Lugano on the way home. A quick photo of the cathedral tower in the last afternoon sunshine at 4 p.m. It's only 90 minutes by public transit to get home from here!