Itinerari Tra I Vigneti 3: Yet another wine trail in the Swiss Canton of Ticino for me to rave about. This one is a twin (actually a triplet) to the one I wrote about earlier: Itinerari Tra I Vigneti 1. (See it here.) Although the two trails share many characteristics, there are enough differences to make each uniquely enjoyable.
Itinerari 3 is a multinational trail! While the trail begins in Rancate, Switzerland, it weaves through the Italian village of Clivio, Italy, before returning to its start in Rancate. Thus, it provided me another opportunity to visit the Italo-Swiss lake region. This trail has water views, unlike the other trail which is set close to, but on the other side of the ridge from, Lake Como. An especially memorable view was from on high of Lake Lugano: a stunning blue gemstone set amidst a spring-green landscape. It was a surprise, a delight, and above all, an unforgettable treat.
This trail provided more of a sense of countryside than Itinerario 1. It follows more path and less road than the other. It also contains a section of trail removed even from villages, which meanders through a wooded mountainside in between villages for a longer distance than the other.
Adding to the sense of rurality, this trail begins in a village, Rancate, whereas the other trail began in the larger town of Mendrisio. The first climb out of Rancate ended in the village of Tremona, where I fell in love with the narrow, sleepy little alleyways that passed for streets a century ago. Now, those narrow alleyways preclude vehicular traffic, which helps to preserve the village as a sky-high oasis of tranquility. Spotlessly clean and meticulously maintained, I wondered if anyone actually lived there, or if it were a fairy-village. The sense of enchantment intensified upon rounding a tight corner to see a clever trompe l’oeil painting of an artist’s small shop window on a house wall opposite the church.
The spectacular mountain vistas of Itinerari Tra I Vigneti 1 were replaced here for the most part by views of soft hills, covered by forests or pastures, as the trail turned south and east to face Italy. The occasional church tower on a hilltop stood out against the blue sky, like the Romanesque-era church in Clivio.
Like the other trail overall, this one also proceeded mostly on hard-pack or tarmac surfaces. But it had a couple of steep spots combined with rough trail. As the trail entered an old quarry area, I remembered what the hotel owner said: this region was famed for its stone and its skilled stone cutters, who worked in large numbers to harvest one of their most abundant resources. (Picking the way over bits and pieces of stone in the old quarry site could be the one challenging trail section for some.) Once on the road to Arzo, the trail passes what must be the sole remaining stone-cutting establishment left in a local trade that continued until the last century.
The trail also passed by a couple of old villas, seemingly unoccupied now, but still revealing traces of former beauty. Upper middle class Milanese would summer in these pretty, modest villas, enjoying the cool mountain air. Some of the loveliest were around Clivio, which at first I only knew I’d reached when I passed a manhole cover with the word ENEL, indicating the Italian electric company.
Coming to a wine bar on the trail in Clivio, I stopped in only to discover that it didn’t carry local wine. The vineyards less than a quarter of a mile below the bar were in Switzerland, and all grapes went to local Swiss cooperatives. Soon the trail took me across the border and through those vineyards, and past a couple of wineries, before heading up the hillside again. I traipsed along the border, getting the last long-distance shots of the mountains surrounding southern Lake Como, before beginning the final leg through forest and vineyards back to the trailhead in Rancate.
