Can anyone suggest places to stay, restaurants, things to do in this area of northern Italy? Planning to visit early Dec.
Posted by
Manhattan Beach, CA, USA
108 posts
Maria,
We were in Varenna on Lake Como in 2005, and took the train to Morbegno one day, and to Chiavenna another day. We absolutely loved Morbegno. There was an article in Travel & Leisure Magazine that year that profiled the region and gave lots of tips on where to go, stay, eat, etc. I believe you can search on T&L's website and pull up the article to read. We wished we would have had more time in the are so that we could go to Sondrio.
Exploring this area was a highlight of our Italy trip. There were no other tourists there and no one spoke English, so we felt really lucky to have such an authentic total immersion experience. We stayed until passegiata and it was great to just wander the streets among regular folks.
You can walk to the little town center from the Morbegno train station, and there are stores and restaurants on the main street. There is a deli there that has been in operation since the 1880's that has wine, salami and cheese caves going back into the mountainside that you can wander to your heart's content. It's called Fratelli Ciapponi (sp?). We explored the various caves for a couple of hours. We discovered an olive oil there that we continue to buy from a California importer to this day.
The day we went to Chiavenna it was cold and raining and most businesses were closed pending the start of a festival that evening, so we didn't see or do much there. Again, we were able to walk to the center of town from the train station.
Judging from the fact that no one else has responded to your inquiry, I think you might also have this amazing area to yourself to enjoy.
Buon viaggio!