The fog rises over the lake while from the summit of the Cornizzolo the first paragliders are launched. On the other side of the mountain, valleys and ridges of the Lariano Triangle follow one another beyond the Horns of Canzo up to the blue surface that reflects the sun after Bellagio. We are a few meters from the Consigliere refuge, owned by the Società Escursionisti Civatesi, in what can be considered the first balcony on the Lario. A little further downstream, some green clearings surround the ancient stones of the Basilica of Saint Peter and of the nearby oratory dedicated to San Benedetto, a architectural complex candidate to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The one we took to get up here is track number 20 (out of a total of twenty-five) from the book “Lake Como, the most beautiful excursions”, written by Luca Arzuffi (180 pages, 18 euros, Lyasis Edizioni): more than a guide, a declaration of love for this vast strip of Lombardy, which Arzuffi has frequented and lived for many years in every break that work grants him .
The QR code to download the tracks
The guide suggests itineraries within everyone’s reach (some for families, others for more trained hikers). And they are easy to follow because each map with the trail layout is associated with a QR Code which allows you to download the GPX track of the route onto your smartphone. «I wanted to dedicate a book to Lake Como, the deepest in Italy and one of the richest in pre-Alpine itinerariesbecause this sort of fjord that insinuates itself between the mountains, this landscape that many of us learned about at school thanks to Alessandro Manzoni’s description of it, has been part of my life from childhood until today – explains Arzuffi – thank you also due to the fact that I reside in the Larian Triangle for almost a third of the year, I was able to travel it far and wide”.
The mountains surrounding the lake, “a skeleton carved out by ancient rivers and glaciers”, offer ever new panoramas and always different at every corner. Panoramas in which the lake itself is an essential presence for men and women who have linked their lives, their work, their efforts to the Lario, leaving – highlights Arzuffi – testimonies, monuments and traditions that we can today rediscover in the ancient villages at half altitude, in the well-kept woods almost up to the peaks, in the thousand-year-old parish churches such as San Pietro or San Benedetto in Val Perlana, in the small ports of Tremezzina or in the mule tracks that climb towards the sky.
The book is an invitation to discover or rediscover these places, often reachable in less than an hour’s drive from Milan. Some underestimate them paths because a lowest altitude compared to many treks in the nearby Alps, but they are truly itineraries of rare beauty: from San Lucio Pass in Val Cavargna to the green basin at the top of the Val Biandinofrom easy walks beyond the Brunate funicular to the most demanding climbs in Grignetta or in Grignaup to 2410 meters of Brioschi refuge, a season at altitude would hardly be enough to discover them all. There is time until the first snows of next winter. To perhaps end on a high note Monte San Primo and witness the enchantment of the sea of clouds that sometimes covers the lake and the low-altitude plain, leaving only the mountains or the skyscrapers of Milan to emerge.
For those who want to go further, a section of the guide reminds and underlines the necessary caution in the mountains in winter: more preparation and attention are needed. For the moment, however, it is worth taking advantage of spring and next summer to try at least some of the excursions described in the book.
