By foot

Itineraries on Lake Como: Pigra and Alpe di Colonno

From Argegno it’s possible to take the cable car that can accommodate up to 6 people and it arrive  with an almost perpendicular route and with a breathtaking view over the branch of Lake Como to the small village of Pigra. Located at an altitude of 881 meters on the buttress of Costone mountain, Pigra belongs to the municipalities located in Val d´Intelvi. Formerly a village in the Late Middle Ages, the small and charming town welcomes the visitor with its typical small gray stone houses of Moltrasio clinging uphill next to the narrow paved alleys. To reach the carefully indicated path, the visitor must  go up through the historic center; it’s possible to stop at the Panée d’Alp wash house from 1886, a meeting place for the women of the village who did their laundry there. There are numerous fountains that intersect in the place, from which you can cool off along the climb.  Fontana Square is the center of the village, where the statue of St. Rocco is found in the typical iconography: the pilgrim’s cape, the dog offering food, a gourd for water and the sore on the thigh, symbol of the lesions of the plague.

Path from Pigra to Alpe di Colonno

Arrived above the village, 1250 meters high, take the non-vehicular path indicated 1A which flanks the mountain through a quiet beech forest. After a first steep stretch you reach the “Bocchetta di Pigra” (1323 meters); you continue to the North on the panoramic path “Via dei Monti Lariani”. Immersed in the woods, you are accompanied by the rustle of dry leaves on the ground moved by your own footsteps (in autumn) and by the murmur of the numerous streams that flow lively along the slope. You can choose to take the panoramic route 1C that climbs up to Pizzo Pasquella (1367 meters) from which you can admire Lake Como from above or you can continue for the last stretch on the driveway that arrives at the Alpe di Colonno refuge . The walking time is about two hours. The refuge can also be reached by car on the driveway, but it is not easy to drive on, especially due to the snow in winter and early spring.

Path 1B starts from the parking lot of the refuge and goes down to Pigra. It is advisable not to climb this path as it is very steep. The paved forest road with round cobblestones offers a magnificent view of the lake. There are numerous rustic houses located on the sides of the path, some of them inhabited by witty and original owners who have decorated them with statues of dwarfs or elves, bear plushes, unlikely cribs and other nice trinkets. After about an hour of descent, you return to the beech forest and the path becomes not very steep again; pleasant are the clearings suitable for a picnic break beside the babbling brook. We return to Pigra in another hour. Better to check the last departure of the funicular, whose timetable is seasonal, to avoid any nasty surprises.

Refuge Alpe di Colonno
Rustic cottagge on the Lake Como

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