For a spring escape in Valtellina there are 9 places to see in the cities, including villas, museums and palaces.
The various long weekends scheduled for spring and the arrival of the warm season invite tourists to organize trips out of town. Valtellina becomes one of the perfect destinations where you can combine relaxation, good food and days full of discovery thanks to the numerous palaces and museums that reopen their doors in this period.
Look at the gallery with photos of places to see in Valtellina.
Spring escape in Valtellina: 9 places to see among historic villas and buildings
And what better spring destination than Valtellina? Precisely in this period, in fact, they reopen their doors palaces and museums which offer tourists the possibility of organizing cultural visits inside wonderful homes that tell the story of the Valley.
Sondrio
Sondrio, the provincial capital, boasts numerous historic buildings that tell and preserve the history of Valtellina.
Palazzo Sertoli amazes tourists and passers-by with its austere and elegant facades which contrast with the interiors where there are strong references to the Rococo. Of particular beauty is the “ballroom”, a room on the second floor decorated with stuccos and paintings. Adults and children alike cannot fail to visit Palazzo Sassi de’Lavizzari: inside there is the MVSA, the Valtellinese Museum of History and Art, a child-friendly place where all guests can learn about the history of Valtellina and its different artistic expressions through creative workshops for children and guided tours for adults .
Walking around the city you can admire other buildings from the outside including Praetorian Palace (seat of the municipality), Palazzo Martinengo (seat of the municipal offices), Palazzo Muzio (home of the offices of the Province of Sondrio) and Villa Quadrio (home of the Rajna Library and with the large concert hall inside with a ceiling decorated with spectacular stuccoes).
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Not only palaces but also castles, Sondrio and its surroundings are a true open-air museum. We start with Castello Masegra, located in a strategic position and from here you can admire Sondrio in all its beauty. The castle inside houses the CAST, the Castle of Mountain Stories (a narrative museum that invites its guests to learn about mountain culture represented by stories of mountaineering, climbing and the environment; the trait d’union is the technology that makes the visit interactive and winks at the youngest visitors) and the Museum of Minerals from Valtellina and Valchiavenna, an incredible collection of minerals among the most beautiful, rare and important in Valtellina.
The Grumello Castle, however, is also located a few kilometers from Sondrio and was donated to the FAI in 1990. A perfect destination for families, the castle offers spectacular panoramic views.
Teglio
Teglio is a small town in the province of Sondrio renowned for hosting the Pizzocchero Academy within its walls. Between one tasty stop and another, travelers can go and discover Palazzo Besta, among the most important Renaissance palaces in Valtellina and one of the most interesting in all of Lombardy. They are depicted inside scenes from the Aeneid, from Orlando Furioso, of the Metamorphoses and biblical scenes. Furthermore, on the ground floor there is the Antiquarium, where testimonies of Valtellina prehistory are kept, which give adults and children a dive into the past.
Talamona
Speaking of Orlando Furioso, in Valtellina you can follow a four-stage itinerary, from Talamona to Teglio, which retraces the epic deeds of Orlando Furioso through cycles of frescoes which are kept inside palaces and historic homes. We start with Palazzo Valenti, in Talamona, where inside the walls there are six panels that reproduce episodes from the first two cantos of the poet; The Masegra Castle, in Sondrio, seems to belong to Orlando’s descendants and eight narrative scenes from the poem can be admired; we then continue with Palazzo Besta in Teglio which features the largest Ariosto-themed depiction in the province of Sondrio; last stop in Castionetto di Chiuro, a medieval village, near the Roncesvalles Tower where there is an historiated sculpture of the hippogriff created by the artist Raffaele Menonna for the five hundred years since the first edition of the poem.
Tirano
Tirano is an important city in Valtellina which, thanks to its strategic position not far from the border with Switzerland, played the role of a crossroads in the past. The town is home to numerous historic buildings, including Salis Palace, a prestigious residence built between the 16th and 17th centuries. Inside the Palace hosts a museum circuit where tourists pass through the 10 most beautiful rooms of the building including the “Chamber of 8 wonders” and the “Saloncello”, a vaulted room with trompe l’oeil frescoes that invite visitors his guests to never take their eyes off the ceiling. The opening is scheduled for Easter.
Grosio
Not far from Tirano, in the direction of Bormio, is Grosio, a town that preserves Villa Visconti Venosta. The building was built at the behest of Marquis Emilio, a member of the Visconti Venosta family, who wanted a family home for stays in Valtellina. The Villa is in Renaissance style and is completely surrounded by a park of majestic centuries-old trees which is now open to the public; inside, however, you can admire precious art objects kept in rooms rich in history, as well as a library and a museum. The opening is scheduled for March 29th.
Rock Engravings Park
The Rock Engravings Park it is located between Grosio and Grosotto ed is the most important evidence of the passage of ancient populations on the Valtellina territory. The attraction that gives the site its name is the Rupe Magna, one of the largest engraved rocks in the entire Alpine range, with over 5,000 anthropomorphic and geometric representations dating back to the end of the Neolithic and the Iron Age. Inside there are two other buildings of great historical interest, the Castle of San Faustino dating back to the 10th-11th century, and the Castello Nuovo, a fortified structure built between 1350 and 1375 for strategic and defense reasons. The Park is set in a landscape context of great beauty and naturalistic interest and is particularly appreciated both by lovers of the mountains and outdoor excursions and by enthusiasts of ancient history. From April 1st the opening hours will be extended.
Bormio
Palazzo De Simoni is a noble residence in Bormio. The building stands on the remains of a medieval castle, of which the tower can be glimpsed, and has typical features of the rich homes of Bormio. Its elegant portal invites tourists to enter and get lost among the cellars, the garages, the garden and the main floor. Inside the Palace there is the Civic Museum, characterized by typical wooden sc’tue (rooms) while in the 27 rooms it preserves the history of the town by telling the habits, customs and trades of the past, portraits and paintings linked to the local culture as well as war artefacts and the narration of snow sports, for which Bormio is famous for.
Morbegno
Passing through Sondrio and returning to the lower valley you come across Morbegno with Malacrida Palace. The exterior of the building is very austere and sober while the interior is capable of leaving tourists speechless. Once inside, in fact, you come across a large atrium with cross vaults decorated with stuccos in soft colours; on the first floor, however, the best of rococo is on display and you can admire the quadratures of Giuseppe Coduri, with architectural perspectives that create the illusion of expansion of the spaces thanks to the trompe l’oeil effect, and some masterpieces by Cesare Ligari, including The triumph of truth in the arts and sciences, over ignorance.
Prosto di Piuro
Moving to Valchiavenna, Prosto di Piuro hosts Palazzo Vertemate Franchi, a wonderful Renaissance residence considered one of the most important buildings in Valchiavenna and the entire province of Sondrio.
The building is located in an isolated area compared to the real village of Piuro and the first thing you notice is its Italian garden that surrounds the structure. If the sobriety and elegance of the exteriors make the Palace almost go unnoticed, the same cannot be said of its interiors, where vaulted walls and ceilings amaze tourists with frescoes of mythological scenes inspired by Ovid’s metamorphoses.
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2024-02-15 13:21:38
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