Mountain towns
Mountain towns in Lombardia
12 towns
Towns inside a named range: the Alps, the Dolomites, the Apennines, the Pollino, the Aspromonte. All above 500 meters and half above 800, where the season decides the trip.
The towns
Livigno
Province: Sondrio · 1,816 m
At 1,816 meters in the Italian Alps near the Swiss border, a duty-free ski valley that drains north into the Black Sea, not the Mediterranean.
Madesimo
Province: Sondrio · 1,550 m
A ski village at 1,550 meters at the head of Valle Spluga, with lifts to 2,880 meters and the Canalone, an off-piste descent counted among the most demanding in the Alps.
Ponte di Legno
Province: Brescia · 1,257 m
The uppermost commune in the province, 1,257 meters up, where two streams meet under the Adamello range to form a river.
Bormio
Province: Sondrio · 1,225 m
An Alpine spa town at 1,225 meters where three high passes meet and Roman thermal water has fed the baths for two thousand years.
Monteviasco
Province: Varese · 928 m
A near-abandoned mountain frazione of Curiglia con Monteviasco at 928 meters above the Veddasca valley, historically reached only by an aerial cable-car since 1989 (since suspended) or a 1,400-step stone staircase, with about 15 permanent residents at the 2018 count.
Castione della Presolana
Province: Bergamo · 870 m
A high-valley commune at 870 meters under the limestone peak the Bergamasque call the Queen of the Orobie.
Teglio
Province: Sondrio · 856 m
A Valtellina hilltown at 856 meters whose Latin name gave the entire valley its own.
Cimbergo
Province: Brescia · 851 m
A village of 538 at 851 meters above the Oglio, with castle ruins on a spur and UNESCO petroglyphs on the slopes below.
Bagolino
Province: Brescia · 778 m
A mountain village at 778 meters in the Valle del Caffaro, with a three-day February carnival of masked dancers and violins.
Cornello dei Tasso
Province: Bergamo · 691 m
A car-free medieval frazione of Camerata Cornello in the Val Brembana, reachable only on foot, built around the family that ran Europe's first integrated postal network.
Gromo
Province: Bergamo · 676 m
A medieval iron-forging town at 676 meters on a rock spur above the Serio, once called the little Toledo for its sword smiths.
Clusone
Province: Bergamo · 648 m
At 648 meters, capital of the macabre fresco and the 1583 planetary clock above its civic tower.
From elsewhere in Italy
Five more towns
Montescudaio
Province: Pisa
A fortified hill borgo at 242 meters, named for a mountain of shields, with DOC wine since 1977 and bread, oil and grape all stamped in its identity.
Petralia Sottana
Province: Palermo
A Madonie village at 1,000 meters, a Bandiera Arancione town, and the headquarters of the Parco delle Madonie.
Furore
Province: Salerno
The Amalfi Coast village with no piazza and no center, scattered on rock walls 300 meters above the only fjord in southern Italy.
Civitella del Tronto
Province: Teramo
A rocky crest at 589 meters above the Tronto valley, crowned by the last Bourbon fortress to surrender to united Italy in March 1861.
Roseto Valfortore
Province: Foggia
A Daunian Mountain stone village at 658 meters near the Fortore springs, named for the wild roses and known for black truffles and acacia honey.