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Borgo del Canto Ruins

Borgo del Canto Ruins

Highlight • Historical Site

Borgo del Canto Ruins

Recommended by 64 hikers out of 72

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Location: Pontida, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy

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Best Hikes to Borgo del Canto Ruins

4.0

(2)

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1. Medieval monasteries and Leonardo's ferry (via CAI Trail 891)

24.3km

07:46

940m

Medieval monasteries, ghost villages, and Leonardo's historic cable ferry crossing the Adda River.

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Expert

4.3

(28)

104

hikers

2. Borgo del Canto Ruins – Monte Canto loop from Pontida

11.8km

04:18

620m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required.

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Intermediate

4.3

(27)

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3. Borgo del Canto Ruins – Pietra di Sant'Alberto loop from Pontida

8.88km

02:56

420m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Mostly accessible paths. Sure-footedness required.

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Intermediate

Tips

Gianni F.

July 5, 2022

Among the most interesting stories linked to Borgo del Canto there is certainly that of Don Virgilio Galizzi.

Born in Leffe on 22 November 1886 and died in Pontida on 29 December 1952, Don Galizzi is considered a priest, healer and exorcist.

Numerous anecdotes are linked to his figure that tell of his particular talents.

Sent in the first decades of the twentieth century to preside over the small district of Canto, he settled in the rectory near the small church of Santa Barbara, sharing the daily hardships of peasant life with his villagers.

Of a fierce and determined character, it is said that he repeatedly went down to the town of Pontida to convince the mayor to build a road that would bring the village out of isolation and to demand connection to the electricity line.

Translated by Google •

Gianni F.

July 5, 2022

One morning in 1943 some fascist officers went up to Canto to pick up the religious man, accusing him of having given refuge to Greek and Slavic prisoners who had escaped from the Lallio concentration camp.

Don Galizzi, who set out with the patrol in the direction of Pontida, near the San Bartolomeo farmhouse, ordered the soldiers to remain still and immobile in that place, while he returned to the rectory.

It is said that the patrol was held back by an invisible force and remained motionless and petrified until the religious man, now far away along the path that led back to the Canto, shouted at them to leave.

The soldiers, in panic, ran away and were never seen again.

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Gianni F.

July 6, 2022

Paolo Panzeri, known to all as "Ol Paolì del Cant" the Paolino del Canto, was the last inhabitant of Borgo del Canto.

In December 2001 he too was forced to leave Canto, he died at the age of 87.

He moved to Canto as a very young man around 1920 and never moved from there again, not even when, starting in the 1950s, the district began to be abandoned by everyone.

"The land is low and the backs of the young no longer want to lower" was his explanation for the depopulation.

He lived in a room in the district, restored especially for him by the then pharmacist from Pontida.

His life did not contemplate the superfluous: no hot water, no heating, isolated from everything and everyone in the midst of ruins built centuries ago.

Translated by Google •

Details

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Elevation 650 m

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Tuesday 11 November

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Location: Pontida, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy

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Borgo del Canto Ruins

1. Medieval monasteries and Leonardo's ferry (via CAI Trail 891)

2. Borgo del Canto Ruins – Monte Canto loop from Pontida

3. Borgo del Canto Ruins – Pietra di Sant'Alberto loop from Pontida

Other Popular Places to Check Out

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