Macugnaga

Macugnaga sits at 1,327 meters at the head of the Anzasca valley, directly beneath the east wall of Monte Rosa, the second-highest summit in western Europe at 4,634 meters. The village was founded in the 13th century by Walser colonists from the Swiss canton of Valais, who crossed the Monte Moro pass and settled the upper basin in the 1200s. Their dark-timbered houses still stand in Borca, Staffa and Pestarena; the Walser Museum in Borca documents the German-speaking culture that held the valley for seven hundred years.

The Chiesa Vecchia, mentioned in a 1317 document, sits beside the Vecchio Tiglio, a linden tree the University of Turin dates to around 500 years old, traditionally used for community assemblies. The east wall of Monte Rosa was first climbed from here in 1872, by Richard Pendlebury's party with the guide Ferdinand Imseng. The mines at Guia and Pestarena produced industrial gold from 1710 until 1961.