Routes
The ancient smuggling paths
Imagine still hearing the voices and coded signals of the smugglers, the chases and calls of the guards, the rustle of the slow steps of those hiding and the clamour of the pursuits.
From here you can observe the vineyards of the valley floor from a new perspective and wait for the passage of the little red train, a UNESCO heritage site, which takes tourists up to over two thousand meters of the Bernina pass.
When the path narrows, caress the rock of the Sasso del Gallo, which marks the border with Switzerland.
Let yourself be conquered by the unique and unrepeatable flavour of Bresaola della Valtellina PGI, which preserves the breath of the mountains and the wisdom of generations of taste artisans.
Caffè Merizzi, Tirano
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The history of Italy is also a history of wars, hunger and survival. Along these paths, many people from Tirano, over the centuries, have been smugglers of goods useful for subsistence. This clandestine activity with neighbouring Switzerland remained active until well past the mid-twentieth century, allowing the local population to integrate the meager peasant resources.
But every respectable story has two sides, in this case perfectly interpreted by the cops and the robbers. A plaque in the locality of Cancelletti reads: “The intensification of smuggling in the 1960s brought financiers from every corner of the peninsula to these places (…) Often, the support of the loved ones was the driving force behind these mountain journeys, even though on opposite sides, both financiers and smugglers, in a historical period that will remain in the memory of these places forever.” Even amid the drama of the events, we can read the happy ending in the friendships, in the love stories and in the new families born from the meeting of young people destined to fight each other.
