The village lies along the Via Spluga, the road that led from Milan to the pass and beyond the Alps, and its name appears in 1186: it probably served to mark the flat ground, in contrast with the harshness of the climb that begins a little higher up. That people have always passed through here is shown by the finds at Pian dei Cavalli, with traces of a palaeo-mesolithic camp. On the Peutinger Table appears Tarvessedo, usually identified with Campodolcino, but nothing has survived from that period: even the bridge everyone calls Roman, the one at Acero over the Rabbiosa stream, is of a later date. And it is precisely that bridge that appears on the municipal coat of arms.
The road made the village's fortune and its crisis. In 1821 the engineer Carlo Donegani completed for the Austrians the carriage road still in use; but in 1882, when the Gotthard railway tunnel opened, through trade collapsed and with it the people's income, and they emigrated en masse to Switzerland, Argentina, the United States and Australia. Those who left took their trade with them: from here come at least five dynasties of grappa distillers active in northern Italy, the Francoli, the Scaramellini, the Levi, the Della Morte and the Vener.
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📅 Every year, on 24 June
On 24 June Campodolcino, a municipality of 1,037 inhabitants in the province of Sondrio, celebrates its patrons Saint John the Baptist and Saint Primus.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Campodolcino, but an easy day trip away.
