Pianazzola is a lovely mountain village perched on the mountainside above Chiavenna. There are about 60 stone-built houses, and while you can reach the village by car, you can only enter on foot. It sits on a south facing hill above a large zone of vineyards and forest mainly of chestnut. Although it is less common nowadays, some of the locals keep goats or sheep in the stables under their houses.
Pianazzola has a panoramic view across Valchiavenna and Engadina, which stretches from the top of Lake Como, into Switzerland over the Maloja Pass. Since ancient times, these valleys were an important route between Northern Italy and central Europe. In Middle Ages, Chiavenna became the administrative centre of a vast area, and enjoyed special privileges and independence.
Fortunately Valchiavenna has not remained a major arterial route, but there are still signs of its important past in the streets and squares of Chiavenna’s town centre.
We started visiting the area in 2001 when we were working in Milan, and discovered a fabulous area that was somehow still ‘off the beaten track’. This website should give you a better idea of what a holiday here could be like, and why Engardina has been attracting Brits and foreign holidaymakers for the last 150 years.
