For centuries the Valsolda was almost a Papal State in miniature. A fief of the archbishop of Milan from time immemorial, in 1240 Frederick II gave it, together with the pieve of Porlezza, to the city of Como; but Como's rule lasted very little, and by 1246 the valley had given itself its own statutes. The archbishop kept a delegate here who also acted as extraordinary judge, alongside the podestà elected by the valley. It ended in 1784, when a dispatch of Joseph II refused to recognise the archbishops' sovereignty and slotted the Soldo valley into the State of Milan.
The valley's twelve lands, meanwhile, were counted and recounted for centuries. They were divided into six comuni; in the sixteenth century they became five; in 1751 they were reduced to one alone, the comune of San Mamete; two years later they were two again; and by 1757 they were six once more, as at the start. Today's single comune dates from 1927. In between, in 1528, Gian Giacomo Medici, known as il Medeghino, destroyed the castle of San Martino, which stood where the hamlet of Castello is today. And at Cressogno there is villa Prina, which Antonio Fogazzaro put into Piccolo mondo antico.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Valsolda
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
