Colico

Torre di Fontanedo

Today
Visit duration: 1 h – 2 h 30
Booking: In some periods only
Area: Upper Lake

Riccardo Beretta · CC BY-SA 4.0

Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why go

The Torre di Fontanedo is a medieval fortification above Colico, on the slopes of Monte Legnone, about five hundred metres above sea level.

Commissioned by Bernabò Visconti in the fourteenth century, it guarded the road between Valvarrone and Valtellina and later formed part of the Forte di Fuentes defence system. Fifteen metres high, it has a nearly square plan, arrow slits and a first-floor entrance. Buildings of the fortified hamlet survive around it on two levels. From the ground in front there are views of the upper lake and Pian di Spagna. The Anello di Fontanedo links the tower to Sant'Elena church.

From the level ground before the tower you see the upper lake and the Pian di Spagna.
It stands on the CAI Colico's Fontanedo loop and above the route of the Sentiero del Viandante.

Highlights

The tower with its first-floor entrance
The ruins of the fortified hamlet

Getting there

On foot, by a short climb: the tower is at Robustello, above Colico, on waymarked paths; the CAI's Fontanedo loop links it to the church of Sant'Elena, at six hundred metres.
Longer is an easy five-kilometre loop, about two hours' walk. It starts from the Acqua la Fevra picnic area, at 456 metres, reached by car from Colico through Villatico: the CAI path 1B crosses the Inganna, passes Sant'Elena and climbs to the Monti di Rusico, a plateau of mountain huts at 743 metres. You come back down to Sant'Elena and by the Fontanedo loop reach the tower and the medieval hamlet, then Robustello and the Inganna again.