Lago Darengo from Dangri

Lago Darengo is an Alpine tarn of clear water between granite massifs and jagged ridges, at the head of a wild-looking valley with waterfalls and woods, below the Pizzo della Gratella, the Pizzo Campanile, the Sasso Bodengo and the Pizzo San Pio. At Dangri, before the crotto, you cross the bridge over the stream and climb the steep mule track towards Baggio: in the chestnut wood you meet the sanctuary of Sant'Anna and follow a Way of the Cross up to the pastures of Baggio, at 970 metres. A narrower path enters the valley, crosses several streams and reaches the huts of Borgo, at 1055 metres; then it runs beside the Darengo stream, goes through a beech wood and comes out on the meadows by the bridge to the Rifugio Pianezza, at 1252 metres. Keeping left of the stream you climb to the Alpe Darengo, at 1380 metres, and from there by hairpins through the wood to an open and fairly steep rocky stretch that leads to the Rifugio Avert Darengo, at 1774 metres; a few steps on are the lake and the Capanna Como, at 1790. You return the same way.

1. 01Seventeen kilometres there and back and 1150 metres of climb, three and a half hours up, on path and waymarked track. The route is of moderate difficulty, for June to October; check the weather forecast before setting off.
2. 02Dangri is reached by car from Gravedona on provincial road 4 towards Peglio and Livo and then by the signed road, partly unsurfaced, about twenty minutes; you need the daily access ticket, from the machine at Livo's town hall, left on show on the dashboard. Without a car there is the C118 Dongo–Livo bus and then an hour on foot on the Via dei Monti Lariani.
3. 03The Capanna Como, by the lake, is an unstaffed hut of the CAI's Como section: to stay there you book with the CAI and receive an access code. At Dangri the crotto serves refreshments only, all year round.

WhereGravedona ed Uniti · Dongo