Riserva Naturale Pian di Spagna e Lago di Mezzola

Where the Mera and Adda rivers meet the head of Lake Como, the mountains briefly let go of the shore. Pian di Spagna is a protected wetland of reeds and shallow water where migrating birds rest.

Why it matters

The reserve's founding purpose, written into its 1983 institution by Regione Lombardia in implementation of the Ramsar directives, was threefold: to guarantee resting and nesting conditions for migratory birds, to preserve the natural and landscape character of the wetland, and to regulate public enjoyment for educational and recreational ends. That balance still defines the reserve's approach to conservation and public use.

The site is also a European conservation unit: it is listed as a Site of Community Importance within the Natura 2000 network, and the World Database on Protected Areas records the Ramsar wetland at about 17.4 km² across the Como–Sondrio provincial border. Five municipalities share its edge: Sorico and Gera Lario on the Como side, and Dubino, Verceia and Novate Mezzola in Valtellina. The protected landscape coexists with villages and railway lines nearby.

What to notice

• The geometry of a floodplain: the reserve's official site describes the plain as lying barely above the water, around 200 metres above sea level, ringed by three mountain groups — the rocky face of Monte Berlinghera (1,930 m) falling towards Lake Mezzola to the north-west, the granite ridges of the Rhaetian Alps to the north-east, and the long Orobie chain closing the horizon to the south with Monte Legnone (2,609 m).
• Reed beds as the dominant vegetation, with mixed broadleaf woodland and open pasture patches — the landscape mosaic that shelters the reserve's birdlife.
• The meeting of waters: the Mera's entry into the lake and the Adda's flow between Lake Mezzola and Como, the dynamic that built and still feeds the plain.
• The reserve's interpretation includes educational programmes about the wetland and its wildlife.
• The Tempietto di San Fedelino across the water forms part of the area's historic landscape.

Context and history

Pian di Spagna's existence is an accident of rivers. Sediment carried down from Valtellina and Valchiavenna partially dammed the valley here, backing up the water into Lake Mezzola and creating the marshy plain between the two lakes. Human history left its own marks — tradition links the name to Spanish troops who camped on the plain in the seventeenth century, and the northern end of the Via Regina corridor ran through this junction of valleys — but the reserve's modern story begins with the Ramsar logic of the 1970s–80s: protect the wetland before drainage and development erase it.

The managing body coordinates Natura 2000 obligations and environmental education, while the reserve marks the transition between Lake Como and Valtellina.