In the Valtellina, at almost a thousand meters above sea level, is Savogno , a ghost town which in the local dialect is called Savógn. Geographically, this village is an “inhabited center” which is located in the pretty town of Piuro in the province of Sondrio.
This delightful and enchanted ghost village of Valtellina, located from an orographic point of view to the right of Val Bregaglia, enjoys a particular and exclusive feature, namely the fact that it can only be reached on foot, and therefore remained uninhabited. In fact, it is connected with the rest of the world only by a steep mule track consisting of 2886 steps .
Although objectively not simple and easy to reach, this, however, should not discourage any traveler. In fact, among its peculiarities, the fact of being magnificently perched on a natural terrace stands out, as well as being, mainly, surrounded by extraordinary woods and stupendous waterfalls .
Wandering around its cobbled streets and alleys nowadays is a bit like taking an incredible journey through time . Of clear origin dating back to the medieval period, the village of Savogno, once distant, was an obligatory and important transit point for those who needed to go to Chur in Switzerland, or in what was the then capital of the Three Gray Leagues.
Despite its current condition as a ghost town, Savogno offers significant points of interest both naturalistic and landscape, as well as historical and architectural. In fact, here the visitor can still admire important examples of spontaneous rural architecture where, among other things, wooden loggias and stone walls stand out.
Of considerable interest, then, is also the parish church headed to San Bernardino , which was consecrated in 1465. Inside, unmissable frescoes are preserved which, in fact, date back to the second half of the fifteenth century. Its bell tower, on the other hand, came to be erected in a subsequent period and, in fact, it presents itself with characteristic Renaissance forms.
During the nineteenth century, the then parish priest of the town, Luigi Guanella, who later became a saint, had several works built in Savogno such as, for example, a public wash house, as well as having the primitive cemetery of the village expanded. In the upper part of the town, on the other hand, you can admire the seventeenth-century public fountain, a fundamental element divided into two parts to perform the task of watering the animals and to allow people the opportunity to provide the necessary hygienic treatments precisely to avoid the plague. of Manzonian memory.
The elementary school of Savogno was built in 1961. The definitive abandonment of the village, however, began in 1968, with a depopulation in favor of the villages downstream and, therefore, more easily accessible.
About 2 hours drive from Milan, Savogno is a gem of Lombardy that deserves to be visited for the nature that surrounds it, but also for the charm of its alleys and historic buildings. A piece of history of an Italy that no longer exists .
