Orrido di Bellano

Bellano's gorge is a rock cleft carved by the Pioverna torrent. At its mouth stands the pentagonal tower of Ca' del Diavol, associated with the history and stories of the site.

Why it matters

The official site dates the gorge's formation to about one and a half million years ago, when the erosion of the Pioverna and the Adda Glacier ground the rock into giant potholes, gloomy recesses and caves. Managed by the municipality of Bellano, the gorge has inspired generations of writers; a magazine of the lake navigation company recalls Stendhal's mention of it in his Italian travel writing. The site combines geology, industrial history, literary associations and the restored tower at its entrance.

What to notice

The Pioverna's flow and the movement of boulders formed cylindrical potholes in the rock. Vegetation grows along the gorge walls, and the torrent's sound changes as the canyon narrows. Ca' del Diavol stands above the entrance to the cleft.

Context and history

The gorge belongs to the working history of Bellano as much as to its scenery. The Pioverna, which tumbles through the canyon into the lake, powered ironworks, silk-throwing mills, a cotton plant and later a hydroelectric station — the economic spine of the Valsassina valley meeting the lake. Writers and travellers responded to the spectacle early: the seventeenth-century Bellano historian Sigismondo Boldoni described it with a shudder, and other travellers recorded a sound like distant thunder rising from the cleft. Walkways were constructed along the canyon walls. Ca' del Diavol and Bellano's museums form part of the site's heritage context.