On leaving the villa we continued out of Varenna following the sentiero dei patriarchs, part of a 6km walkway around the district. “Patriarchitt” was the nickname of the
Varennesi people, because in the past in Varenna they practised the religious
rite of Aquileia (whatever that may be). Today, however the Patriarchs simply represent the elderly people of Varenna, the long-lived and wise ones.
It took us firstly to the cemetery.
The greenway followed the railway line and we criss-crossed over and under the track several times heading south towards the small village of Pino.
Pino's main claim to fame is the River Fiumelatte, which at just 250m from its source to its mouth is the shortest river in Italy. It runs between houses and with a descent at 36° the rushing water makes an incredible sound.
Sorry you’ll have to turn your head on one side to view this.
Pavements appear to be an optional extra in most of the towns and villages around Lake Como and so once again we found ourselves dodging the traffic. This house we passed made me smile though.
We're not sure what this building is or was, there seem to be stalactites hanging from the roof. Edit: having researched extensively it would appear to be Villa Capoana (or Capuana) and the Fonte Uga but other than that we can't find any information.
This, I'm fairly confident though , is a species of Begonia.
By this time we were quite hungry and definitely thirsty and so we looked online and found there was a bar nearby. It was quite a stiff climb up to it and we got little lost as we weren't on the road we thought we were but when we finally got there = it was closed :(
We trudged our way back to Varenna, keeping to the level road this time which was considerably easier and quicker - a few photos along the way.
Back in Varenna we found ourselves a very nice restaurant where, predictably, I had pizza and Ian a pasta of some kind.
Suitably fed and watered, we wandered around Varenna for a little while.
