Oltrelario

OltreLario is traveling at a slow pace in sensations.

It is to traverse woods in May and be pervaded by the sweet scent of elderberry, it is to set your feet in the undergrowth and be invaded by the aroma of bear garlic, it is to ride among the laburnums with foliage full of golden clusters in bloom.

It is encountering majestic, centuries-old trees that hide stories of the past, such as the "Foo di Parol" in Valle d'Intelvi, a perfect hiding place for smugglers' messages near the Swiss border crossing; it is trying to embrace the nearly 8-meter circumference of the centuries-old chestnut tree known as "Castanun de Buncava" in Barni.

It is to build paths over hairpin bends, climbs, historic plateaus, to intersect overhanging views of Lake Como and to thrill at the wonder of the "earth mushrooms" of the Larian Triangle and the landscapes that inspired painters such as Eugenio Spreafico and Giovanni Segantini and "Magistri" comacini in their stucco and scagliola decorations that have graced European churches and villas for centuries.

It is to travel the history of man along the Lambro, which from the Menaresta spring runs among the rocks and becomes a river at Magreglio. To imagine forges, hammers. Men and women at work. Still seeing mills in operation, in action with that natural motive power in Ace. It is dry stone walls and terracing. It is walking among the snows in the Valley and seeing the cheesemakers laying the wheels of butter and cheese in these wells dug in the earth and filled with snow.

It is to experience art as you move from the Baroque-Rococo style in the Church of Santa Maria in Frazione Scaria of Alta Valle Intelvi to the Romanesque-Comacino style in the Church of Sant'Alessandro in Lasnigo.

It is getting to know the craftsmanship , the craftsmanship to the hard-working hands of the valley's scagliolistas and plasterers to those industrious in the construction of wooden rims for bicycles in Magreglio.

It is to experience the excitement of rurality, day by day, in close contact with the local area and community.

Shall we go?