Gordona

In 2015 a law of the Region of Lombardy incorporated the former comune of Menarola into Gordona. It was not just any merger: the papers say that in this way the situation was restored to what it had been before a decision taken by the Grisons in the eighteenth century. It took three centuries, but a border decided by a foreign authority was put back where it had been.

Gordona has seen plenty of traffic, for that matter: in Roman times the via Spluga ran through here, the road that linked Milan to Lindau over the Splügen pass. Today the busiest place is a stream: the Boggia, which comes down through the wild val Bodengo and which in dialect is called Bögia, that is, hole, ditch. It has become one of the best-known canyoning destinations: the Bodengo 1, 2 and 3 stretches follow one another from easy to demanding, with rope descents, dives and rock slides. Higher up, in the val Crezza, is the Forcola refuge, at 1838 metres, with twelve beds.