All worlds
Walks on foot, by bike or by car, each with a story and a narrator. Pick the one for your weekend.
The Buried Cornerstone
Under the hills of Monferrato, the stone remembers. Go down, read, climb back up.
On foot in Casale, by car in the hills
The Keepers of the Gates: the Ten O'Clock Toll
Every evening at ten, the city closed. Tonight it is up to you to reopen it.
Funicular and on foot
The Rib of the Honest: Verona Without a Balcony
A bone hanging over a street has been waiting for centuries for an honest person. Verona is known by walking, not only by photographing balconies.
Train and on foot (bus or taxi for the hill)
Consonno, Toyland
Where a count promised Las Vegas to Brianza, and the mountain answered with a landslide.
On foot, uphill from Olginate
The Keeper of the Crown: Monza, Villa Reale and Park
Fact or tradition? Follow the Crown of the Kings of Italy, the Savoy palace and a park with 14 km of walls.
Train, then on foot (bikes in the Park)
Giulio and the Dragon, Orta San Giulio
A walled garden on the lake, an island that keeps silent, a mountain of terracotta saints. And a dragon that never left.
On foot, ferry to the island
Castellazzo: the Arconati Codex
A collecting count, a manuscript by Leonardo and a little Versailles hidden in the heathland.
By car or train, then on foot through the village and the paths
The Codex of Morimondo
Where the monks drained the marsh and hid time in the bricks.
On foot or by bike through the village, the Naviglio and the hamlets
Vigevano, Il Moro's Ideal City
A square designed like a theatre, a castle that strides over the houses, and a design that perhaps no one ever signed.
Train from Milan, then on foot; bike for the Sforzesca and the irrigation canals
The President's Palace
Three kilometres of avenue, forty-seven coats of arms and a man who wanted to rival Tivoli.
On foot in the centre of Cesano; train to Meda and Seveso
Volta's Balcony
Climb to where Volta's light looks down on you, go down to where the spark was born.
Funicular and on foot
Bellagio and Varenna, the Lake That Splits in Three
One ferry, two villages, three branches of water. Prove you really saw the lake.
Ferry and on foot
That Branch of the Lake: the Manzoni Trail
The novel is over, the landscape is not: find the places where Manzoni's pen still touches the stone.
On foot (bus or car for the Rocca)
The Cursed Castell
In 1169 the curse took bells, stones and innkeepers from the island. Can you make it speak?
Ferry or bus to Ossuccio, then on foot; boat to the island from May to October
Bellano and the Orrido: Horror of a Horrid Horridness
A poet gave a name to the gorge. The Devil now wants his house back.
Train and on foot
The Crespi Register
Every house has its number. Every number hides a story.
On foot in the village; Trezzo a few minutes on foot, Imbersago by car or bike
The Holy Workshop on the Lake
A poet built a whole hill as if it were a single work. You have to read it, motto after motto.
On foot between Gardone and the Vittoriale; car or bus to Salò
The Lands of the Dragon and the Apple
A dragon chained to an apple tree, a witches' tower, a salami. Five villages and a single keeper.
By car between the villages, on foot within them
The Walls That Remember
A castrum razed to the ground, a tower left standing, a cycle of frescoes that no one can date.
By car, or train and bus, then on foot
The Merchant and the Rock
A shipwreck, five boulders and a coffee: from the cave of a repentant merchant to the café where Chiara wrote the soul of Luino.
Train, ferry and on foot: the Hermitage and Luino are two separate stops
Stresa and Baveno, the Lake of Two Shores
From belle époque velvet to pink granite: two shores, one lake, a thousand details.
Train and on foot; ferry for the islands (optional)