Bormio and Riva Del Garda - Paradiso!



Want to go back in time and escape into a medieval Italian mountain village?  Try Bormio!  Nestled in the Italian alps near the Swiss border.  Bormio retains some of its medieval heritage with many old buildings.  More tranquillo, at least in the summer.  Winters it is famed for its skiing and dogsledding (site for the 2026 winter Olympics) . The watchtower bells (rung manually on the hour) set the tempo and could be heard far up in the mountains where I was hiking on my first day there.  


Food is a mix of Swiss and Italian with a local delicacy being a buckwheat version of polenta called "taragna" served with sautéed fungi (mushrooms).  Another local favorite are fried cheese balls.  Vecchia Combo is a quaint restaurant that has been around a long time. 

Mountain biking is ubiquitous and its easy to rent a bike of any variety for a day or weeklong trip.   One day bike trip gave me a little sampling of real mountain biking. I biked up and traversed the mountain bordering Bormio on the north. Only 300 meter elevation change and I was "hurting." I am more in awe of the bikers I passed driving over the Alpi ascending 1500 meters! Also the ones who speed down steep mountain trails seemingly without fear.  

My grandparents immigrated from Colico, a town on the northern shore of Lake Como, but 60 miles to the northeast of Colico,  Bormio has many Canclini's as well. My first night there the town signage posted the memorial for recently passed "Hercules Canclini"  Restaurants and shops either knew, were dating or were related to a Canclini.  3 days was too short as I had just started to meet the natives (they even requested I keep playing in the mornings in the local piazza)


But it was time to Riva del Garda where my street musician extraordinaire Roberto.  I took the "shortcut" thru the Stelvio National Park up and over the steepest and narrowest mountain "roads" I have driven.  It was sweaty palms and white knuckles on ongoing switchbacks that barely allowed one vehicle and no barriers to prevent going off 1000 foot cliffs.  But once I started my descent there was no turning around.  The amazing thing was seeing bicyclists coming up!!  Would they make it before dark?  

But I made it to Riva and the welcoming hospitality of an amazing Air BNB host Elio Morelli.  Inventor, entrepreneur, gardener and tuba player.  A stay at his house includes a a traditional breakfast with fruits, vegetables, Kombucha, and jams from this own garden.  Video

And then dinner, guitar lessons and watching Roberto enthrall the crowds with his amazing voice and guitar skills.  Is it even possible to ever play like he does?  He lives in a van with solar power.  He models minimalist and self sufficiency.  Riva is a little place of paridiso, but music a tough way to make a living.  It gives me much to think about. 
Roberto

Riva del Garda








Location: 23032 Bormio, Province of Sondrio, Italy

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