The Forts Trail at Colico

The walk circles the Montecchi, the hills that close Colico's land towards the lake.

On the first stands the Forte Lusardi, that is Forte Montecchio Nord, a First World War fortress; on the second the ruins of the Forte di Fuentes, the stronghold the Spanish built in 1603 against the Grisons. From the station you take the underpass to Viale Padania and follow the CAI waymarks of the Sentiero dei forti: after a small bridge, with two twelfth-century towers on the left, the road climbs through the wood to the entrance of the first fort. Then you take a track towards Erbiola and pass a clearing and a cluster of houses; a path between dry-stone walls, vegetable plots and vines looks out on the first Montecchio and the Valtellina. Past the Borgofrancone canal and the Monteggiolo junction you go between the houses of the seventeenth-century hamlet and climb the road cut into the rock to the parade ground of the Fuentes. Between the church and the Governor's Palace the CAI path 9 resumes, going down to the Adda. The cycle and foot path along the river leads towards its mouth, rounds the Montecchio Nord and reaches the little harbour and Piazza Garibaldi, from which you return to the station.

1. 01Nine kilometres in a loop from Colico station, between 210 and 290 metres up, three hours: an easy route for any season.
2. 02The loop crosses the Forte di Fuentes, so it can be walked only during the fort's opening hours: at other times access is forbidden.
3. 03If you are not visiting the Fuentes ruins you can cross the parade ground and pick up the path straight away between the church and the Governor's Palace.

WhereColico