The San Jorio pass from the Bocchetta di Germasino

The San Jorio pass, at 2014 metres, has been crossed since Roman times and links the upper lake with the Val Morobbia on the Swiss side: for centuries the pass road was an important trade route towards continental Europe. Silk made in Como passed this way on its way to Germany, and iron from the Val Morobbia bound for the workshops of Dongo. From the Bocchetta di Germasino, also called di Sant'Anna, you walk along the main road, surfaced for eight hundred metres and then a dirt track, almost level along the wooded flank of the Valle Albano, an area rich in biodiversity. After about three kilometres you leave the turning for the Rifugio Mottafoiada on the right and carry on towards the Giovo, San Jorio and Sommafiume. The track climbs a few hairpins towards the crest of the Motto di Paraone, leaves the wood and, after about nine kilometres, reaches the grassy saddle between the Val Albano and the San Jorio valley, where the Rifugio Il Giovo stands at 1714 metres. From here you turn right and, between dirt and paved stretches and the panels of the Parco della Valle Albano, in about fifty minutes you come to the Rifugio San Jorio, at 1980 metres, a former customs guard barracks; a few steps above it is the pass. From the pass the view runs from the upper lake to the Valtellina, Lake Maggiore and the Swiss Alps, as far as Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn; nearby stands the little church of San Jorio, at 2040 metres, dedicated to the hermit who, by tradition, gave the pass its name. You return the same way.

1. 01Twenty kilometres there and back and 800 metres of climb, three hours twenty up, on surfaced road and dirt track. The route is of moderate difficulty, for May to October; check the weather forecast before setting off.
2. 02The Bocchetta di Germasino is reached by car from Dongo on provincial road 5 towards Stazzona, Germasino and Garzeno; at Garzeno, at the second hairpin, take the turning for Sant'Anna and the Bocchetta, where you park. The road to the Giovo can also be driven, but the surface is poor and an off-road vehicle is advisable; in winter it may be icy or snowy, and it is best to leave the car at the Bocchetta.
3. 03From the Rifugio Il Giovo to the pass is an hour on foot and three hundred metres of climb, a stretch suitable for families with children too.
4. 04From the Giovo the Istituto Oikos path also runs along the head of the Valle Albano. It goes gently up and down through meadows and shrubs, past the Fonte del cavallante and the Nembruno pastures, to the Albano stream; then it climbs, past the pools where amphibians breed, to the Bocchetta di Sommafiume, at 1925 metres, which looks over the Valle Albano and the Swiss Val Morobbia. Ten minutes further, by a trace through the meadows, are the Sommafiume tarns. It is a route of moderate difficulty, for April to November: 329 metres of climb, an hour fifty out and an hour and a half back, with a steeper last kilometre.

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