A day exploring Luino and the small mountain villages of Runo, Stivigliano, and Curiglia

Much joy can be found when venturing off of the standard, well-trodden touristic paths. I was fortunate enough to have a local guide, Matteo, my friend of 10 years, who was able to take me for a random Wednesday of adventure beginning with the market of Luino and ending at the base of the footpath leading to the isolated village of Curiglia.

The famous market at Luino, which brings sellers of everything from clothes to honey, occurs every Wednesday and is worth checking out if for nothing else than the free samples of cheeses, meats, and sweets. The town of Luino, scenically situated on Lago Maggiore, is also quite nice to explore.

As a side note, I want a house comprised of several such glass structures connected by wooden bridges.

After our tour of Luino, my friend/guide was kind enough to suggest going up into the mountains in search of a small village known for its frescoes. Always up for an adventure, I eagerly agreed.

We stopped in another village to check out a church which was surrounded by a field of stinging nettles. Having chosen to wear flip-flops, I suffered rather many stings in the pursuit of historic site appreciation. 

Unfortunately many marvelous churches were victims of horrendous restoration attempts that replaced their fine stone walls with plaster facades to satisfy Baroque ideas of beauty and religiosity, which I would describe as gaudy and busy. The interiors are gold monstrosities. Apologies to those of you who are fans of Baroque.

The view through an original stone archway.

With my feet still swollen from the effects of stinging nettles we arrived at Runo, a town so small that even Google has precious little to offer in the way of information.

The church at Runo is another fine example of restoration gone wrong. The interior was predictably all white plaster, gold details, and cherubs chatting with angles.

At least the medieval tower was left untouched.

In Runo we were greeted by frescoes, but not quite in the way we had imagined. According to an old man we found sitting by a fountain, Runo was founded well before the Plague in the 1300s and was historically one of the more important cities in Northern Italy because of its strategic location. He said that the most modern houses were from the 1700s. Most of the ancient frescoes that once adorned Runo's walls were destroyed or painted over long ago. The frescoes Runo is currently known for are not ancient but rather recently crafted by regional artists in various styles from cubist to pastoral and all are nicely framed and hung on walls all around the village. The old man explained that many were away being restored since they weren't all done with the same process and some withstood the test of weather better than others.

While most houses showed signs of modernization, remnants of the ancient village remained.

Almost everywhere I looked there were gardens or flowers offering bursts of color.

It should be noted that another reason Runo is historically noteworthy is because the famous Italian painter Bernardino Luino was born there in cerca 1480 before moving to Milan, Veneto, and Rome.

A final view of Runo before we headed to Stivigliano, another mountain village with an ancient history.

We stopped in a town along the way to get coffee and I found this sign amusing. The coffee proved to be the worst coffee I'd ever had. At least that's what I remember thinking at the time. It was like bitter coffee flavored slush. My mouth was traumatized by the flavor.

Fortunately falling instantly in love with the narrow, cobble-stoned streets of Stivigliano helped me forget about my traumatic coffee experience.

If traditional stone houses had a fan club I would fight to be its president. Yes, I love stone houses that much. Just think about it. They used just stones. Nothing else. No fillers.

I spy with my little eye a modern roof. What an eyesore amongst the traditional stone roofs!

You never know what you'll find wandering the streets of a random mountain village. Antique furniture anyone? I think it's free. The stone streets provided my flip-flopped feet with something resembling slightly a massage.
After professing my undying love for Stivigliano, we parted ways as the evening was fast approaching and I very much wanted to see more of the mountain area.

At the base of a footpath leading to the isolated mountain village of Curiglia there are several small waterfalls.

There were also goats crossing the bridge where we stood admiring the view of a waterfall.

Curiglia, with a population of about 190 people, is located in the Veddasca valley and is accessible either by foot or funicular. The journey by foot takes a good hour or two up a windy mountain path. We didn't have time to visit the village but we ran into a couple who had and they appeared to have had a marvelous time. Apparently on Wednesday the restaurant is closed but locals welcomed them to lunch with them in their homes so they made their way back well-fueled and wined. Oddly enough, I remember visiting Curiglia on a class trip when I was an exchange student in Varese 10 years ago. It is remarkable and I hope to one day visit it again. I'll be sure to come on a Wednesday so I'll be guaranteed to eat well!

 A final vista of the mountains before beginning our return home.
Back to civilization we go. Past the place of the horrible coffee.