For several decades, until the end of the seventies, Piantedo farmers practiced transhumance, transporting cows and goats to Val Gerola and Val San Giacomo, where families stayed from the end of May until the beginning of the autumn season. Just outside the town, on the edge of a chestnut grove, there is the sanctuary Madonna di Valpozzo, which stands along an itinerary traveled for centuries by those who, having reached the northern tip of the lake, intended to go up the Valtellina avoiding the valley floor which remained marshy until in the mid-nineteenth century. Two bandits attack a traveler passing along the Via Scalotta and find escape by fleeing into the woods and invoking the Virgin, kneeling near a spring. With her sudden appearance, Mary puts the bandits to flight and heals the man with water. As a sign of thanks, the community, informed of what had happened, started the construction of a chapel along the path, where a shrine now stands. The building materials were found near the source three times, indicating where to start the construction site. The original chapel’s ancient venerated image remains, enclosed within a black marble frame, serving as an altarpiece. Near the presbytery, many votive offerings are displayed, which tell of a devotion that still exists today. Water still flows from the side of the church into a simple basin marked with the writing “A[ve] M[aria]” in memory of the miraculous spring.

Near Piantedo, in Mantello, stands the parish church dedicated to Saints  Columban adn Gregory but it is called Saint Marc due to the processions that take place on April 25th.

With its 300 inhabitants, it is a proto-historic legacy of the Celts, overthrown by the Romans who founded the town in 59 BC. Entering the village means immersing yourself in a wonderfully astonished, calm, and silent fabric whose main reference points are the sacred buildings as evidence of a well-rooted faith. The Church of Saint George Martyr was built in 1676 -when it was still dedicated to the Blessed Virgin – it was then enlarged in 1712 and subsequently demolished but rebuilt in 1859. The Church of Saint George in Mondonico benefited both in 1677 and 1804 from appropriate restorations aimed above all at reinvigorating its structure and the beautiful fifteenth-century frescoes depicting San Giorgio and the Blessed Virgin with Child, Saint Michael, two bishops, and again the Blessed Virgin. The small church of San Roch was built on the vote of the inhabitants of Dorio, who escaped unscathed from a cholera epidemic that pervaded the Como area in the first half of the nineteenth century. The building is located along the Sentiero del Viandante, which runs along the eastern shore of the lake connecting the Abbadia Lariana to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Valpozzo, in about 45 km of pure contemplation.

In this village stretching out towards the lake on a small peninsula, the church of Saints Quirico and Giulitta is worth a visit: the structure is known for being one of the oldest in the area, as mention of it was found in a will dating back to 814 AD Over the centuries, the church has undergone numerous expansion and restoration works, the last of which led to the reconstruction of the façade in 1919. The bell tower, however, dates back to the 11th century. And is intact and perfectly preserved. The church has been declared a national monument. It holds inside some valuable paintings and a precious eighteenth-century piece of finely carved wooden furniture, in which the organ is housed.
Orezia Castle. Leaving Dervio behind, you come across a small medieval village dominated by the tower, visible today, from whose top you can admire a beautiful panorama of the upper lake. Already known in historical documents from the first half of the 11th century, the tower was built on a rocky spur to protect the access road to Val Varrone. In 2016, the Municipality of Dervio completed its restoration and safety, and today, the tower is visible from April to September thanks to the volunteers of the Dervio Pro Loco (dervio@prolocolario.it)

Known as the “village of a thousand steps,” Corenno overlooks the waters of Lake Como and, while not excluding a more ancient occupation, the discovery of some coins and the construction technique of the foundations of the defensive tower indeed testify to its Roman origins. The addition of Pliny to the original toponym is to be found in the link of the locality with Pliny the Younger, originally from nearby Como, who remembers it in one of his epistles. After having belonged to the Roman Empire, then to the Pieve di Dervio and the Diocese of Milan, Corenno is today an enchanting village made up of a handful of houses perched on a promontory and connected by stairs carved into the living rock. The Castle built between 1363 and 1370 on the oldest Roman fortification, which was part of the coastal system of signal towers, has never been inhabited, nor was it conceived to be: the structure is a typical castle enclosure where the population could find refuge with their belongings and livestock in case of attack. The consecration of the parish church, next to the castle and dedicated today to Saint Thomas of Canterbury dates back to 1365. Inside, we can observe fragments of frescoes dating back to between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, which emerged during the restorations of 1966, while on the façade, the monumental tombs of the members of the feudal Andreani family stand out. For those who happen to be in Corenno between the end of August and the beginning of September, we recommend the medieval festivals, with games, shows, falconry exhibitions, and the costumed re-enactment of the landing of Barbarossa, who came to Corenno to visit Count Andreani.