Eugi Gufo's siteEugi Gufo

After nearly two months of lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, returning to my beloved office in via Conservatorio 7 was an intensely emotional experience. That return took place on 11 May. Three weeks later, on 1 June, I felt another wonderful emotion: I set off on my first post-quarantine tourist trip.
When choosing the first destination, I tried to pursue two fundamental objectives: to find a relatively uncrowded place and to be able to walk a great deal while breathing freely without the extremely uncomfortable face mask. Consequently, opting for a mountain location was almost inevitable. In the end, I chose Canzo, a small municipality in the province of Como from which several moderately challenging Prealpine hiking trails begin.
Before setting out on a walk immersed in nature, I could not fail to devote proper attention to studying the built-up area. The village is small and not at all crowded: almost all tourists — I do not know how numerous they are in normal years — head straight for the mountain paths. I am not entirely sure they are right to do so, because the village contains several fine and curious examples of the typical local architecture.

The state of preservation of the historic buildings is fairly varied, though never disastrous. Taken together or individually, they always make a pleasant impression.

I counted no fewer than three churches within the municipal territory, though only the largest was open to visitors. Inside it is moderately attractive; outside it makes a better impression.

Most of the streets are very well kept and give the visitor the feeling of being in a summer holiday resort.

Unfortunately, care for the overall impression is not always matched by attention to detail. Thus, for example, on renovated and well-maintained historic buildings one may observe conspicuously over-modern additions. In this particular case, I would say that protection from sunlight is necessary, but it could be designed with a little more stylistic refinement.

Fortunately, however, high-quality details prevail numerically.

For instance, it was precisely in Canzo that I encountered the oldest (and therefore most authentic) bollard I have seen so far. One can see that over time it has been somewhat «eaten» by the ground… Let me remind everyone that bollards served to protect doorways and the corners of houses from the wheels and protruding axles of horse-drawn carts (which were, of course, bulky, heavy and difficult to manoeuvre).

Some streets in the historic centre of Canzo are so narrow that even today’s motorised vehicles scrape the walls (such scratches are usually seen beneath arches that are too low — ahahaha).

The streets on the outskirts are distinguished not only by often rather charming private villas, but also by traffic that seems to confirm: we are in a holiday area.

Naturally, I could not fail to pay attention to the small yet important details that make life more pleasant and convenient for residents and tourists alike. For example, within the municipal territory there are benches of an interesting design. Unfortunately, they are not very numerous and are often too exposed to the sun.

The very useful street ashtrays are also, regrettably, few in number (though this is always better than their complete absence, as happens in large Italian cities):

Serving primarily the tourists are the numerous information boards marking the stages of various thematic routes within the built-up area. The very small size of the town makes it easy to see all the interesting features simply by wandering at random through the streets. Yet the boards provide the reassurance that nothing significant has been missed.

Meanwhile, the locals — who already know the area in all its aspects — enjoy the coolness of the Ravella torrent, which flows through the historic centre. And they cheerfully greet the tourist-photographers who have finally returned after the unpleasant lockdown.

The tourists, for their part, having studied the local architecture, finally set off along one of the many mountain trails in the area. The initial stretch, common to the majority of routes starting from Canzo (that is, in the direction of the Gajum springs), consists of a climb of about 20–25 minutes which may seem somewhat demanding to those unaccustomed to walking. In reality, however, it is a test worth overcoming: it is followed by long, fairly wide paths with regular surfaces (for mountain terrain), with ascents and descents that are not excessively steep. And, above all, you will find abundant natural beauty, plenty of shade (around 90% of the chosen route), clean air and many soothing landscapes.

Depending on the route selected, you will also encounter intermediate stops of varying interest such as, for example, a botanical garden or a small farm with several animals.

In short, for hikers who are not particularly experienced or well trained, it is one of the best places imaginable.