Looking for Sunshine in the Sotto Ceneri South of Lugano

Sunday November 5, 2023 -- Since the closure of our fabulous Gotthard Train Tunnel (the longest train tunnel in the world, opened in 2016) in August of this year, when a cargo train ruined 8 km of the railway track which caused so much damage that repairs won't be completed till about end of 2024, we have not done another trip into Canton Ticino. We are so used to getting there so quickly now, that it is hard to imagine having to spend an hour more traveling via the old "Panorama" stretch (as we used to do!). But now that the weather is bad in the North again, it still looks attractive to spend time in the sunny south when we want to go walking, so we'll just have to put up with longer travel times again.

We headed to Lugano as the weather there was best, and walked a section parallel to the southern arm of Lake Lugano, on its east side and at the foot of Monte Generoso. We started in Rovio, as we'd been there earlier this year (photos HERE) and had missed the opportunity to visit a very old Romanesque chapel which we wanted to view this time. We then continued to lake level in Melano for a look at another three churches we hadn't been able to visit the previous time. As this was a relatively short route, we continued on a forest trail to Capolago (= "Head of the Lake) to make it a 3-hour hike.

The hike was a mixture of good and rather unfortunate: Once again a well-place cloud created unwanted shadows... / The romanesque chapel was closed due to construction.. / Two of the other churches we wanted to see were also locked, or not churches any more.... / Worst of all, recent storms in the area had caused a lot of damage on the trail and heavy rains had made one of the streams almost impassable, so we had to do some dangerous detours to continue on the trail (it seems none of the locals had noticed the damage and blocked the trail for hikers)... /  .... AND the train home was practically standing room only because of people returning from holidays in Milan.

So not the best hike, but we did have about three hours of sunshine.... From now on, we might simply start hiking trails we've done before and know we enjoyed.

We took a bus from the community of Maroggia on the lake, up the hill to the village of Rovio. From the bus we could see that the trail we were planning to walk to the head of the lake is already in sunshine. Also, we could just make out the bell tower of the "Santuario della Madonna del Castelletto" on the hillside above Melano. This was one of our goals for the day (ended up being locked).

We got off at a bus stop across from this church building near Rovio. It is called "Chiesa di Sant'Assunta" and was still locked, like last time. We got here at 11:30.

A look through the iron grill of the doorway into the Sant'Assunta church. It is unfortunate that so many of these buildings are kept locked, as we had discovered last time that the ceiling apparently is quite beautiful. 

A view through the archway to the summit of Monte Generoso to the East. Apparently, it snowed here way down south as well!

A zoomed view of the "Fiore di Pietra" ("Stone Flower") at the summit of Monte Generoso, one of the creations of Swiss architect Mario Botta. Although that building is in Switzerland, the ridge to the left forms the border with Italy, i.e. on the other side is Italy. 

This is the little Romanesque church of San Vigilio which we had missed seeing last time, and really wanted to have a look into this time. A placard down in the village of Rovio had informed us that this chapel is from the 11th Century and is one of the most interesting examples of Romanesque architecture south of the Sotto Generi region. But there is construction going on and we weren't allowed to access it. 

Just as we wanted to start on our hike, a single cloud covered the sun, as is so often the case, casting shadow on the village of Rovio, which I wanted to photograph from above. So we waited here for about 30 minutes until the sun cleared the clouds. 

There was a conveniently-placed bench with a nice view of the head of the lake, so we just enjoyed the sunshine for a while. 

Then finally at 12:15 the village of Rovio received some sunshine, and we headed in that direction. 

Starting in Rovio at 12:25, we headed down to lake level and into Melano, from where we went back to see the inside of the Dom there, before ascending to the Santuario, which was locked. Then we followed the forest trail–which was very damaged–down to Capolago, which we reached at 15:50. (Train left at 16:08, but we were already in shadow). 

Heading down into the village of Rovio. 

The bell tower of the "Chiesa di Santi Vitale ed Agata", a 17th-18th Century build

Before going into the church again (we had already visited it last time), I had a quick look into the cemetery. There were very many large family plots and mausoleums. Obviously, family is important here. 

Chiesa di Santi Vitale ed Agata, from 17th and 18th Century. The unusual front was added in 1996. 

These fantastic churches are like entire art museums. You could spend hours here looking at all the statues, carvings, and paintings. 

More details of the parish church in Rovio. 

VIDEO:

The stunningly beautiful interior of the church in Rovio

I don't know what kind of plant this was, probably the remains of a flower once the petals fell off. But it sure looks pretty!

Another look at the summit of Monte Generoso which looms on the east side of the village. The border with Italy runs along those peaks. 

Heading back down the mountain now toward Maroggia, where we caught the bus from the train station a couple of hours earlier. This is looking north along the lake to the tail end of Monte San Salvatore. (Side note: We had a difficult time finding the trail due to construction of a new building, and found out a few days later that the trail has officially been closed now). 

Walking through the main piazza in Melano, heading down the road to the churches we weren't able to look at last time. The village is on the list of protected townscapes of national importance. It also had a very important harbour in the Middle Ages. 

The original church of Sant'Andrea dates from the 15th Century but was totally rebuilt in the mit 1800's due to the construction of the Canton highway. It was locked last time we were here. This time we were lucky as it was open, and we got to marvel at the beautiful interior. 

This church is very "young", built in the 1850's in a neo-classical style, sparing no details in the artwork. 

Particularly the ceiling and arches featured so many details. 

Details of the painted ceilings in the Dom in Melano. 

VIDEO:

The equally beautiful neo-classical Sant-Andrea Dom church in Melano

Then we went over to the next building which had a large bell-tower, so we assumed it was another church of some sort, but the door was locked and it looked like a residence. Possibly this was the part of the original church which got rebuilt once the road was constructed, and they kept only the bell tower. 

(Side Note: It was too warm for me in my jeans, so I switched to a skirt with bare legs for the rest of the hike!)

Walking back through Melano to find the trail which leads up the hill to the pilgrimage church ""Santuario della Madonna del Castelletto", which we were looking forward to see, as it is one of the most popular pilgrimage churches in Canton Ticino.

What a cute little outside alcove for enjoying summer days!

Heading through Melano to the trail up the mountain. 

Heading up the mountain now, we get a look across the rooftops of Melano

The gardens full of palm trees around here are always a joy to behold. Gives the region a "Mediterranean" feel.  

We got to the "Santuario della Madonna del Castelletto" at 2:15 p.m. after a relatively short hike, and were really looking forward to seeing it, as it is one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in Canton Ticino. We could not understand that the building, built from 1634-37 on a previous church from the 14th Century and restored in the 1980's, was locked. 

There was a large park up here, with a Grotto Restaurant and lots of picnic tables, so apparently a popular place in summer. Maybe the building is open in summer when the operators of the restaurant are up here. 

From the grounds of the Sanctuary we got a look at the mountain village of Rovio where we started our hike (San Vigilio at the arrow on the left, and the Rovio Parish Church on the right), as well as the general trail we followed to get to Melano. 

We didn't stay long, headed off quickly, as we would have had just enough time to make the 15:38 train in Capolago. (It was 14:26 and the time to walk to Capolago was about 1 hour and 15 minutes, usually enough for us. We didn't make it though, as we hadn't anticipated the storm damage in the forest). 

The first part of the trail through the forest to Capolago looked promising. 

We had to watch out for all of these long thorny vines which hung from above and kept trying to grab on to us! Another indication that not a lot of people walk this trail!

The first storm-damaged section we came to wasn't too hard to cross. It just got worse from here, though. 

We had to climb over a lot of downed trees whose trunks were very slippery from recent rains, and at several places had to scramble up or down away from the trail to pass. 

Looking back at a section where we had to go down the hillside to detour around the fallen tree, as we couldn't climb over it. 

A nasty surprise was having to cross a stream here, where there is no bridge. Usually, there is so little water that you just walk over the flat stones, but what is hard to see here is that the water was too deep and too fast to cross at the usual place (where the painted sign is) so we had to drop larger rocks in a place upstream to cross. 

To get back to lake level we had to walk beneath the highway into the northern part of Capolago aptly named "Bella Riva". The shadows are getting long, but we still had a nice view. According to the weather report, the water level in the lake was the highest it had been on this day, and there was a threat of flooding. 

Heading through the streets of Capolago to the last of six (or what we thought were seven) churches which had been on our itinerary. This one was open, although quite simple. This is the "Chiesa di Santa Maria Madalena" originally from the 14th Century in Romanesque/Baroque style but with lots of modifications since then, namely in the 17th Century.

A modern fountain across from the church. Above the rooftops we can see the village of Rovio where we started our hike. 

Heading down to the train station at Capolago. 

A final zoomed look at Rovio. (Side Note: We had been speaking to a local lady shortly after getting off the bus, who recommended a visit to the summit of that mountain in the back, called Sighignola, from where you get the most spectacular views of the region. This just went on our list of hikes to do, as we had never actually considered it. The summit and its East side are in Italy. 

The hikes we have done in the region of Monte Generoso. The light blue trail is the hike we did to the summit of Monte Sant'Agatha in March of this year (those photos are HERE)

As we head back northwards to Lugano by train, a look down to the south arm of Lake Lugano shows the trail along the East side where we walked. That region is already in the shadow of Monte San Giorgio, whereas here we still would have had quite a bit of sunshine!

On the other side of this still very green hillside is the Val Mara where we started our hike in Rovio, at the foot of the snow-covered peaks of Monte Generoso. (You can just see the "Fiore di Pietra" building). 

And that's the summit of Monte Sighignola, which the local lady recommended we should walk up to some time! A great idea that I'm looking forward to. Also, across the lake is an Italian enclave called "Campione d'Italia", a very small piece of Italy completely located within Switzerland, and a place we have not yet walked through, because it has little charm and a huge casino.

Past the rooftops of Lugano now, we can see how far down the snow has covered the peaks at the back of Val Colla. (The mountains are Camoghé on the left, Gazzirola on the right... a mountain I also would like to walk across one day).

Location of Monte Generoso in Switzerland. 

What surprised us the most on this excursion was the large amount of snow which had fallen in the northern regions of Canton Ticino at the very south side of the Gotthard Tunnel (Airolo to Faido)