From Calonico I Went Down Into The Main Road And Walked To
Giornico, Taking The Right Bank Of The River From The Bridge At The
Top Of The Biaschina.
Not a sod of the railway was as yet turned.
At Giornico I visited the grand old church of S. Nicolao, which,
though a later foundation than the church at Mairengo, retains its
original condition, and appears, therefore, to be much the older of
the two.
The stones are very massive, and the courses are here and
there irregular as in Cyclopean walls; the end wall is not bonded
into the side walls but simply built between them; the main door is
very fine, and there is a side door also very good. There are two
altars one above the other, as in the churches of S. Abbondio and
S. Cristoforo at Como, but I could not make the lower altar
intelligible in my sketch, and indeed could hardly see it, so was
obliged to leave it out. The remains of some very early frescoes
can be seen, but I did not think them remarkable. Altogether,
however, the church is one which no one should miss seeing who
takes an interest in early architecture.
While painting the study from which the following sketch is taken,
I was struck with the wonderfully vivid green which the whitewashed
vault of the chancel and the arch dividing the chancel from the
body of the church took by way of reflection from the grass and
trees outside. It is not easy at first to see how the green
manages to find its way inside the church, but the grass seems to
get in everywhere. I had already often seen green reflected from
brilliant pasturage on to the shadow under the eaves of whitewashed
houses, but I never saw it suffuse a whole interior as it does on a
fine summer's day at Giornico. I do not remember to have seen this
effect in England.
Looking up again against the mountain through the open door of the
church when the sun was in a certain position, I could see an
infinity of insect life swarming throughout the air. No one could
have suspected its existence, till the sun's rays fell on the wings
of these small creatures at a proper angle; on this they became
revealed against the darkness of the mountain behind them. The
swallows that were flying among them cannot have to hunt them, they
need only fly with their mouths wide open and they must run against
as many as will be good for them. I saw this incredibly
multitudinous swarm extending to a great height, and am satisfied
that it was no more than what is always present during the summer
months, though it is only visible in certain lights. To these
minute creatures the space between the mountains on the two sides
of the Ticino valley must be as great as that between England and
America to a codfish. Many, doubtless, live in the mid-air, and
never touch the bottom or sides of the valley, except at birth and
death, if then. No doubt some atmospheric effects of haze on a
summer's afternoon are due to nothing but these insects. What,
again, do the smaller of them live upon? On germs, which to them
are comfortable mouthfuls, though to us invisible even with a
microscope?
I find nothing more in my notes about Giornico except that the
people are very handsome, and, as I thought, of a Roman type. The
place was a Roman military station, but it does not follow that the
soldiers were Romans; nevertheless, there is a strain of bullet-
headed blood in the place. Also I remember being told in 1869 that
two bears had been killed in the mountains above Giornico the
preceding year. At Giornico the vine begins to grow lustily, and
wine is made. The vines are trellised, and looking down upon them
one would think one could walk upon them as upon a solid surface,
so closely and luxuriantly do they grow.
From Giornico I began to turn my steps homeward in company with an
engineer who was also about to walk back to Faido, but we resolved
to take Chironico on our way, and kept therefore to the right bank
of the river. After about three or four kilometres from Giornico
we reached Chironico, which is well placed upon a filled-up lake
and envied as a paese ricco, but is not so captivating as some
others. Hence we ascended till at last we reached Gribbio (3960
ft.), a collection of chalets inhabited only for a short time in
the year, but a nice place in summer, rich in gentians and sulphur-
coloured anemones. From Gribbio there is a path to Dalpe, offering
no difficulty whatever and perfect in its way. On this occasion,
however, we went straight back to Faido by a rather shorter way
than the ordinary path, and this certainly was a little difficult,
or as my companion called it, "un tantino difficoltoso," in one or
two places; I at least did not quite like them.
Another day I went to Lavorgo, below Calonico, and thence up to
Anzonico. The church and churchyard at Anzonico are very good;
from Anzonico there is a path to Cavagnago - which is also full of
good bits for sketching - and Sobrio. The highest villages in the
immediate neighbourhood of Faido are Campello and Molare; they can
be seen from the market-place of the town, and are well worth the
trouble of a climb.
CHAPTER VI - Piora
An excursion which may be very well made from Faido is to the Val
Piora, which I have already more than once mentioned. There is a
large hotel here which has been opened some years, but has not
hitherto proved the success which it was hoped it would be. I have
stayed there two or three times and found it very comfortable;
doubtless, now that Signor Lombardi of the Hotel Prosa has taken
it, it will become a more popular place of resort.
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