Stage 2 – From Piazza Roma to Borgo Sant’Antonio (“Cima d’Argegno”)

Description

We go to the end of Piazza Roma, beyond the modern fountain realized in the years 2007-2008 and we enter in via Cacciatori delle Alpi, and just after, at the street number 22, we meet an ancient building in yellow painted, called in 1663 the “Cà del Ponte”, once seat of the municipal hospitium, a tavern with a small hotel. Going on, it is possible to do a small deviation, going through an ancient porch in order to reach the medieval bridge on the Telo, which stands out on the Municipality’s coat of arms. From here we can see how the Telo torrent has deeply carved its bed in the rock, creating a deep valley. On the steep rocky mountainsides are sheer suspended ancient buildings and factories, which point out the important role of the torrent in the life and in the economy of Argegno. We turn back and we go under an evocative round arch with lantern which towers above the road, entering via Garibaldi. According to Donato Gregorio, author of a recent publication about Argegno, it is about the heritage of an ancient door of the village Argegno; probably from here, the road layout of the ancient Via Regina went through towards the bridge on the Telo torrent. The big block of flats on the left has an inscription «Argegno-Dist° IV di Menaggio Prov. Di Como»; on the right, a roadsign put by the Comunità Montana Lario Intelvese shows «Mulattiera Argegno –S.Anna». After 5 metres, we take, on the right, the Vicolo dei Mulini, so called for the presence of different mills which milled some corn, some maize and chestnuts. After the cobbled steps, on the left, we enter another short narrow street which leads to via Pizzo Gordona, a wide road which goes up with a paving material made of porphyry. At the street number 11 of via Pizzo Gordona, above the architrave of the entrance, a niche dating back to the 19th Century accommodates a wooden statue of Saint Anna with the Virgin Mary. From the small square Piazza Gaulio Miro we enter Borgo Sant’Antonio. In correspondence to the house at the street number 24, stands out a niche with a statue in plaster of Saint Antonio of Padova with the Child, which replaces a more ancient one representing Saint Antonio the Abbot (“Sant’ Antoni del Purcell”). In this stretch the slope is broken by low steps in porphyry. Walking on, along via Pizzo Gordona, between the street numbers 36 and 38 was kept a green metal sheet, where, until some years ago, there was a wooden statue of Saint Andrea dating back to the 18th Century, today has been lost, made by Giovanni Bolgeri, who belonged to a family of master-hands in the wood carving. Walking on, at the street number 42, in Borgo Sant’Antonio, to the limit of the most ancient nucleus of the town, inside a niche with a roof in metal sheet, is visible a Crucifix in plaster of the 19th Century, placed here because of the vow made during a plague and being a traditional prayer destination on Good Friday.

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