The Galbiga, or Calbiga, is 1,698 metres high and the Valle Intelvi guides count it as the second mountain of the area: it stands on the ridge that separates Lake Como from Lake Lugano and closes the Val Perlana to the west.
What to see
From the summit, where marine fossils have been found, if the sky is clear you can count six lakes lined up along the south-west/north-east diagonal (Maggiore, Muzzano, Lugano, Piano, Como and Mezzola). Looking north you see Porlezza and Monte Grona; towards the south the Perlana and d’Intelvi valleys come into view, and among the Alps Monte Rosa can be picked out. On top are a cross, a statuette of the Virgin, an altar and a space that serves as a little church, inaugurated and blessed by Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini.
On the saddle below the summit, at 1,576 metres, stands the Venini-Cornelio hut: it was built in 1916 as military quarters, became a mountain hut after the First World War and an anti-aircraft militia lookout during the Second, was demolished after the war and rebuilt in 1986. In front of the hut is an old cannon, and the trenches of the Cadorna Line are close by; the remains of the fortifications and of the 1915-1918 military road were reused as anti-aircraft lookouts in 1940-1945. On the first Sunday of August the Lenno Alpini group celebrates the feast of the Madonna della Neve at the hut, and in mid-October there is a chestnut feast (according to the AAP of Pigra).
History
About a hundred metres from the hut, inside a collapsed trench, stands the “Corrado Lamberti” astronomical observatory, at 1,608 metres. It was built in 2001 by the Comune of Lenno with the Gruppo Astrofili Lariani and inaugurated on 14 July 2002; the copper dome is four metres across. In July 2021 it was named after the astrophysicist Corrado Lamberti, who promoted it. After a period of inactivity, in 2025 the Comune of Tremezzina entrusted its management to the PhysicalPub association, which wants to reactivate it for outreach.
Getting there
From Argegno you take the cable car to Pigra (880 m, see the cable car page) and follow the “strada ai monti”: in a couple of hours you reach 1,700 metres, passing the Alpe di Colonno (1,237 m, with a restaurant), Boffalora (1,252 m, about twenty minutes later, with a restaurant) and then the military road that climbs to the Venini hut and continues to the Alpe di Ossuccio and the Alpe di Lenno, still used by cheesemakers; after the last, steeper stretch you reach the top. From Boffalora, starting from the saddle where the Alpini chapel stands (parking at 1,240 m), the climb takes about 1 hour 20 and 473 metres of ascent: it is a very scenic excursion on the ridge between the two lakes. From the summit, along the ridge, Monte Crocione is about half an hour away. Times, difficulty and trail conditions change with the season and should be checked before setting out (CAI, hut managers, weather forecast).
Practical information
- Height: 1,698 metres (Wikipedia, Wikidata); OpenStreetMap gives 1,691.
- According to OpenStreetMap the summit is in the municipality of Porlezza; this page is linked to Tremezzina, where the Venini hut and the observatory are.
- For observatory visits and hut hours we have no up-to-date official source: it is best to contact PhysicalPub and the hut manager.
Sources
- Valle Intelvi Turismo, Pigra - Monte Galbiga
- myLakeComo, Excursion to Monte Galbiga
- PhysicalPub, Corrado Lamberti Astronomical Observatory
- AAP Pigra, Venini hut
- Wikipedia, Monte Galbiga and Monte di Tremezzo entries; Wikidata and OpenStreetMap.