Spina verde regional park

In the turbulent late Roman period (3rd-4th century), the inhabitants of the area settled again on the Baradello hill, at the foot of which stood that first settlement that had been abandoned centuries before.

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Spina verde regional park

In the turbulent late Roman period (3rd-4th century), the inhabitants of the area settled again on the Baradello hill, at the foot of which stood that first settlement that had been abandoned centuries before. The reasons were mainly military, given its strategic position to control communication routes.

Today the hill is an integral part of the Spina Verde regional park, equipped with many paths for trekking and sports activities.

If you follow n. 10, you reach the top of the hill, where in addition to enjoying a breathtaking view of the Po Valley, Como and the pre-Alps surrounding the lake, you can admire the remains of a 28-meter high watch tower that belonged to the Baradello Castle. The fortification was built in the early Middle Ages (in the second half of the 12th century) by Federico Barbarossa, and was destroyed in 1527, under Spanish rule. Archaeological excavations have made it possible to discover that inside the walls the castle, in addition to the tower, contained the lodgings for the military, production spaces, a small church and two cisterns. Discovering the Castle and life in Como in the Middle Ages are also dedicated some of the laboratories of the vast program of excursions and educational activities organized by the Park.

Inhabited of Pianvalle

The village of Pianvalle rises on the slopes of Mount Caprino; it was brought to light through a series of excavation campaigns that began in 1971. The area showed traces of dwellings and environments made with dry stone walls. The frequentation of the site probably begins in the neo-Eneolithic, attested by some rock engravings, while a first phase of the inhabited area can be placed around the IX – VIII century BC The considerable density of structures shows a proto-urban internal organization. The town is located on Mount Caprino, south of the city of Como, in a wooded area of great naturalistic interest. Here from the Bronze Age to the 4th century BC there was a built-up area of Golasecchiano, corresponding to the current Como, later re-founded by the Romans on the shores of the lake.

The first reports date back to the early 1900s with rock carvings on some rocks, the oldest dating back to the Copper Age and reaching up to the historical era. The Golasecchian inhabited area was partly built covering these engravings with materials dating back to the 9th-7th century BC, although the period of maximum expansion took place in the 6th-4th century. Two sectors of the town have been found, in different state of preservation. In the II and I century the area, now abandoned, was reused as a sacred place. Some tombs and several votive offerings have been found below the level of the houses of the previous era. After this time the area was definitively abandoned. The site can be visited within the protected area of the Spina Verde, the materials are found, in part, in the archaeological civic museum of Como.