Corenno Plinio is a medieval hamlet set on a rocky headland dropping sheer to Lake Como, a frazione of Dervio. Its stepped lanes, partly cut into the living rock, have earned it the nickname “borgo dei mille scalini”, the village of a thousand steps. It is one of the most voted places in the province of Lecco in the FAI “I Luoghi del Cuore” census, in which it has taken part over many editions.
History
The history of the hamlet is bound up with the Andreani counts, feudal lords of the Archbishop of Milan Ottone Visconti from 1271. It was the Andreani who had a walled castle built, between 1360 and 1370, on Roman foundations, to control the lake and the land routes and to serve as a refuge in case of attack. The moat was filled in between 1825 and 1830, when a military road was built.
The name “Plinio” was added to “Corenno” in 1863, in honour of Pliny the Younger, who by tradition is said to have owned a villa in the area.
The church of San Tommaso di Canterbury, built against the castle, was probably originally a castle chapel connected to the fortress. It is recorded in the Liber Notitiae Sanctorum Mediolani (late 13th century) as the church of San Tommaso Martire; it became a parish church by an act of 3 November 1566, following its separation from the mother church of Dervio ordered by Archbishop Carlo Borromeo.
What to see
- The Andreani castle, roughly square in plan, of which two towers survive: a quadrangular one to the north and a sail-shaped one to the south. It is still owned by descendants of the Andreani family.
- The church of San Tommaso di Canterbury, in piazzetta Garibaldi: the dedication to Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury killed in 1170, is rare in the Lake Como area. The gabled facade has a moulded serizzo portal dated 1698; in 1795 the nave was lengthened and given a barrel vault and the apse was enlarged. A restoration in 1966 brought to light frescoes of the 14th–16th centuries, among them a Saint Christopher, a Saint Francis, an Adoration of the Magi and the figure of a bishop. The high altar is in polychrome marble with a black marble canopy.
- The three Andreani tomb arches, 14th-century Gothic funerary monuments: two flanking the church portal, one set against the castle wall. No other examples of the kind are found on Lake Como.
- The stepped lanes of the hamlet and the view over the lake from the churchyard.
Getting there
Corenno lies a short way north of Dervio, a brief detour off the main Varenna–Dervio stage of the Sentiero del Viandante. It can be reached on foot along the shore, by car, by bike or by boat. There is no public transport in Corenno: to continue you have to walk back at least as far as Dervio.
Practical information
- The castle is private property, owned by descendants of the Andreani family.
- For the opening hours of the church of San Tommaso di Canterbury it is best to check with the parish.
Heading south along the stage you reach the church of Santi Quirico e Giulitta, the parish church of Dervio and the northern end of the Varenna–Bellano–Dervio section.