Skip to content

Musso

Sant'Eufemia, Musso

Visit duration
20–40 min
Booking
Not required
Area
Upper Lake
The little church of Sant'Eufemia with its bell tower and arched porch, seen from below against a blue sky with clouds.Andreas Lattmann · CC0
  • Andreas Lattmann · CC0
  • Polloscheggia · CC BY-SA 4.0

1 / 3

The little church of Sant'Eufemia with its bell tower and arched porch, seen from below against a blue sky with clouds.

Andreas Lattmann · CC0

Why go

Sant'Eufemia is a small church on the Sasso di Musso, between the Giardino del Merlo and the old marble quarries.

It belonged to the Rocca Medicea, destroyed in 1532 during the wars against the Medeghino. The church was rebuilt around 1622, with a single nave, a square chancel and a two-columned porch; the façade retains Musso marble elements and inscriptions. Its original dedication may have been to San Childerico. A local legend portrays Eufemia as a woman from Sueglio in the Val Varrone, able to cross the lake by cutting through the water with a saw. Below the Sasso she lost a small bell, whose chimes are said to be heard during storms. The church is reached only on foot.

  • The two columns of the entrance porch are monolithic, each cut from a single block of stone.
  • Around the church stand the ruins of the fortifications of the castle of Musso.
  • The nearby Giardino del Merlo was laid out from 1858 by the engineer Giovanni Manzi on the site of the stronghold.

Highlights

  • The two-columned porch and the Musso marble of the façade
  • The site of the Rocca Medicea, destroyed in 1532
  • The path between Dongo and Musso that passes it

Getting there

  • On foot only. From Dongo, past Santa Maria in Martinico, a cobbled path climbs through chestnut woods and then drops to the church, at 412 metres; from there a ramp and steps go down to Genico in Musso. It is the first stretch of the walk from Dongo to Rezzonico on the Sentiero del Giubileo.
The bell tower and the porch arch on the edge of the rock, with the lake below, the villages of the far shore and the mountains under big white clouds.LauraPiatti · CC BY-SA 4.0

Accessibility

  • Reaching the church means walking along a footpath.

On the map

Explore the lake
DongoMussoSant'Eufemia, Musso

© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL

Nearby: places, experiences, services

Distances as the crow flies.

Sources and credits

Sources and credits