Mandello del Lario is famous worldwide for Moto Guzzi, but on the hillside and in the town it also has Romanesque and Baroque churches with frescoes spanning five centuries. On 5 October 2024 the Comune lined up five of them in a single day, with guided visits, in the «Cammino nella fede e nell’arte» (Walk in faith and art): this itinerary takes up its sequence and adds the Moto Guzzi museum, redone in 2026, saying for each stop when you can really get in.
The stops at a glance
| Stop | What it is | When to visit |
|---|---|---|
| Santa Maria Nascente in Debbio | sanctuary with a Madonna of the Milk from 1434 | by booking with the Pro Loco only |
| San Giorgio | small church with frescoes of 1475-1485 | on Saturdays, according to the Comune |
| San Zenone | former cemetery oratory with quadratura frescoes | hours not published |
| San Lorenzo | archpriest church with a Romanesque bell tower | hours not published |
| Beata Vergine del Fiume | Baroque sanctuary of the seventeenth century | hours not published |
| Moto Guzzi Museum | redone in 2026 | from October Thursday-Sunday, full ticket 12 euros |
How the order came about
The 2024 programme gave one church per slot: Madonna di Debbio at 9.45, San Giorgio at 11, San Zeno at 14, San Lorenzo at 15, Beata Vergine del Fiume at 16. The meeting point was at 9.30 on the churchyard of Debbio, at a quarter past twelve there was a stop for a packed lunch and at 17, in the sanctuary of the Beata Vergine, a concert of Marian songs; those who could not do the whole walk could choose single visits (Lario News, 30 September 2024). The event shows that the five places fit in one day, but it does not say how much ground lies between them, and we have not found an official source giving distances or walking times. The guided visits are not fixed: today it is best to arrange things with the Pro Loco.
On the hillside: Debbio and San Giorgio
You start in the south, where Santa Maria Nascente in Debbio stands on the hill at the border with Abbadia Lariana: inside there is a Madonna of the Milk frescoed in 1434, with fifteen ex votos, and to get in you must book with the Pro Loco of Mandello. A little further north, along the Sentiero del Viandante, is San Giorgio: a medieval single-nave church on a spur above the lake, with a cycle of frescoes of 1475-1485 on the Last Judgement inspired by the Observance of St Bernardino. The Comune says it is open on Saturdays, from 9.30 to 12.30 and from 14 to 17; the regional entry speaks instead only of public holidays.
The Sentiero del Viandante, explains Mandello’s tourist site, runs along the shore as far as San Giorgio and from there goes further inland, towards Maggiana, Rongio and Sonvico: you can carry on on foot if you like.
In town: San Zenone, San Lorenzo and the sanctuary
Going down into town you meet San Zenone, a former cemetery oratory with two naves, eighteenth-century quadratura frescoes and a late fifteenth-century Dormitio Virginis. Then San Lorenzo, the archpriest church that was for centuries the seat of the pieve: a seventeenth-century building with a twelfth-century Romanesque bell tower made from a tower of the castrum. The round ends with the sanctuary of the Beata Vergine del Fiume, Baroque, built after 1625 in memory of a miracle linked to the flooding of the Meria, with stucco by David Retti; in 2024 it turned four hundred. For San Zenone, San Lorenzo and the sanctuary there are no official hours: entry depends on masses, guided visits and feasts, and it is best to ask the parish.
The Moto Guzzi museum
The Moto Guzzi Museum, on via Parodi, was presented during the Moto Guzzi World Days of 3-6 September 2026. It gathers more than 160 restored motorcycles; the ticket includes free entry to the plant, and booking is recommended but not compulsory. From 1 October to 31 March it is open Thursday to Sunday: Thursday and Friday from 10 to 17, Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 18. The visit can be made on the same day as the churches, in the morning or the afternoon depending on when the individual stops open.
To go further
- Torre di Maggiana: the Barbarossa Tower, with its ethnographic museum, has been a building site since 5 October 2026 and in all likelihood cannot be visited for about nine months.
- Santa Maria sopra Olcio: the sanctuary at 660 metres can only be reached on foot from Somana, in times that the sources give between half an hour (CAI Grigne and Mandello’s site) and an hour.
- Anello di Olcio: a circular route of 4.4 km with 260-290 metres of ascent, which starts from the lakeside car park, passes the station and crosses the village of Olcio among olive terraces, with some viewpoints over the lake (Mandello’s tourist site). Trainers or light trekking shoes are advised.
- Mountains: the territory of Mandello also holds the Grignetta and the Rifugio Rosalba, for those who want to climb.
Practical information
- The best day is Saturday, because it is when San Giorgio is open and the museum is open until 18; Debbio has to be booked with the Pro Loco of Mandello (+39 0341 732912, mandello@prolocolario.it).
- Mandello has a station on the Lecco-Colico-Sondrio railway line (Mandello’s tourist site); for other ways see the guide Getting to Lake Como.
- Museum hours and prices hold for winter 2026-2027 (they change from April); for the churches hours are not published.
- There is no signposted route joining the five churches: the sequence is the one proposed by the Comune in 2024.
Sources
- Lario News, «Mandello. Cammino nella fede e nell’arte, alla scoperta di 5 santuari» (30/9/2024)
- Mandello tourist site, Sentiero del Viandante and L’anello di Olcio
- Comune di Mandello del Lario, Museo Moto Guzzi, Moto Guzzi booking portal and M3 Motorcube (30/9/2026)
- The pages of the individual places on this site, with their own sources.
