Val Codera

: A Valley Like No Other A valley straight out of a picture book—and yet quite different: Val Codera, about 15 km long and framed by a ring of high rocky peaks. Narrowing at the entrance to the gorge, it opens up behind Codera into a high valley, revealing a fantastic granite backdrop—in the fall, when the larch trees change color and snow-capped peaks reach into the deep-blue sky, it’s an overwhelming sight. In early summer, green and brown dominate the landscape, and the ascent from Novate Mezzola is quite a sweat-inducing climb given the sun’s high position. That’s because you have to start all the way at the bottom; although inhabited year-round, Val Codera has no road access! And—even more surprisingly—the valley’s residents don’t want cars; they only want a modern cable car. This would replace the antiquated structure currently used to bring down to the valley most of what can’t be carried on one’s back. So anyone who wants to visit Val Codera has to do so on foot, which in turn has the great advantage of leaving time not only to look around but also to reflect. About the “simple” country folk and the wealthy “Milanese,” for example, who each descend on the surrounding countryside on the weekends, as well as about a road project and the planned industrial granite quarrying in the valley. The small Museo della Valle provides a few additional insights.