Lecco to Cassano d’Adda
Adda
Adda - Amis St Colomban
Lombardia

3. Lecco to Cassano d’Adda

610
Water
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Take advantage of a flat stage to rest after the mountain paths and enjoy Lecco at the end of Lake Como before continuing towards Milan.
After two last mountain lakes, Lakes Garlate and Olginate, the exit of the Alps follows the spillway of the various lakes, the tumultuous Adda river whose furrow is a deep wooded valley carved into an increasingly urbanized plain.

29 points of interest

  • Lecco
    Lecco
    Cultural

    Basilica of San Nicolo

    Beautiful church with its bell tower outside the enclosure, amazing.
  • Historical

    Palazzo del Paure

    The Palazzo delle Paure is a museum of contemporary art and the mountaineering observatory of Lecco.  
    Until 1964, the palace was the seat of the Ministry of Finance, where citizens went to pay their taxes, hence the name Palazzo delle Paure.
  • Torre Viscontea
    Torre Viscontea
    Historical

    Visconti Tower

    A historic site in the city centre, the Lecco Visconti tower can be visited. It is often used for exhibitions.
  • Historical

    Santuario di Nostra Signora della Vittoria

    The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Victory is a very important church for the people of Lecco, built in memory of the soldiers who fell in the First World War.
    Every evening at seven o'clock, the bells ring eleven times in memory of the fallen soldiers.
  • Historical

    Villa Manzoni

    Lecco is the town of the Bride and Groom with many references to the work and life of Alessandro Manzoni, starting with Villa Manzoni, where the writer spent his childhood holidays, now a museum dedicated to him.
  • Lecco
    Lecco
    Tourist

    Bridge Azzone Visconti

    Also known as Ponte Vecchio, it offers a magnificent view of Visconti Island and the typical fauna of the river.
  • Pescatore
    Pescatore
    Cultural

    Church of Santa Teresa

    Beautiful church by the lake.
  • Garlate
    Garlate
    Tourist

    Civic Silk Museum Abegg

    The Abegg Silk Museum, located in an 18th century spinning mill on the shores of Lake Garlate, surrounded by a mulberry garden, displays discoveries, inventions and machines for the production of silk from silkworm to fabric. It was built and inaugurated in 1953 by the Swiss manufacturers Abegg to transmit to professionals and researchers the tools created over the centuries in the silk industry.
  • Olginate
    Olginate
    Cultural

    Church of Sant'Agnese

    Baroque church 
  • Brivio
    Brivio
    Historical

    Castle of Brivio

    Castle on the Adda river
  • Brivio
    Brivio
    Cultural

    Church of Saints Sisinius, Martyrdom and Alexander

    Baroque church with a beautiful interior decoration of wall painting.
  • Brivio
    Brivio
    Panoramic

    Pont Brivio

    Nice view of the Adda from the bridge.
  • Arlate
    Arlate
    Cultural

    Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Woods

    A relaxing sanctuary accessible by large stairs and offering a superb view of the Adda Valley.
  • Traghetto di Leonardo
    Traghetto di Leonardo
    Tourist

    Leonardo's Ferry

    Boat allowing to cross the Adda river to go to Villa d'Adda which offers the possibility of accommodation, food and supplies.

    To know more about it

  • Paderno d'Adda
    Paderno d'Adda
    Cultural

    Church of the Alpini

    Chapel dedicated to the Alpinis, the Italian mountain soldiers.
  • Paderno d'Adda
    Paderno d'Adda
    Tourist

    San Michele Bridge

    An Eiffel-type bridge built on one of the most beautiful views of the Adda River painted by Leonardo da Vinci as a backdrop.
  • Paderno d'Adda
    Paderno d'Adda
    Cultural

    Oratory of San Ambrogio

    A small baroque oratory on the edge of the cycle path between the Adda and its diversion channel.
  • Porto d'Adda
    Porto d'Adda
    Cultural

    Sanctuary of the Madonna della Rochetta

    Ancient and beautiful church built on top of a small hill, with a magnificent view over some meanders of the Adda River.
  • Centrale Esterle
    Centrale Esterle - Amis St Colomban
    Tourist

    Carlo Esterle hydroelectric station

    The Esterle hydroelectric power station dates back to 1914. It is known for its architecture, which is inspired by older Lombardy buildings, both on the outside and inside in the machine rooms. It has been modernised several times since 1998, while preserving the architecture and some of the old machinery. The power station is still in operation.
  • Trezzo sull'Adda
    Trezzo sull'Adda
    Tourist

    Taccani hydroelectric power plant

    The Taccani hydroelectric power station is an industrial building dating from the early 1900s that is still in operation today. It is famous for its architecture, its splendid facade and its Liberty interior: it is undoubtedly the best-known power station on the River Adda.
  • Trezzo sull'Adda
    Trezzo sull'Adda
    Historical

    Visconti Castle

    Built in the mid-1300s by Barnabò Visconti, this castle, probably one of the most imposing, was used as a military fortress but also as a summer residence for the lords of Milan. At the time of Sforza, it was the subject of a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.
  • Trezzo sull'Adda
    Trezzo sull'Adda
    Cultural

    Sanctuary of Divine Maternity

    Convent belonging to the Carmelite order. Baroque Lombard style church with an illuminated altar.
  • Historical

    Villa Castelbarco

    Villa Castelbarco is a rural palace built on the site of a former monastery, whose general shape it takes on.
  • Vaprio d'Adda
    Vaprio d'Adda
    Tourist

    Villa Melzi

    This villa welcomed Leonardo da Vinci who made some drawings and machines left to his owner, Gérolamo Melzi.
  • Vaprio d'Adda
    Vaprio d'Adda
    Cultural

    Church of San Nicolo

    Neoclassical church of the 19th century, whose frescoes were made between 1880 and 1885 by the local painter Natale Riva.
    A visit to the church of San Nicolò, built between 1816 and 1817, is recommended as it houses the historic and imposing Bernasconi organ (3,600 pipes), built in just twenty months thanks to donations and the free labour of workers and parishioners: the expression "working for the church of Vaprio", i.e. voluntarily, is still popular today.
  • Vaprio d'Adda
    Vaprio d'Adda
    Cultural

    Church of Sant Columban

    Romanesque church from the 12th century with a statue of Saint Colomban and magnificent bas-reliefs.
  • Cassano d'Adda
    Cassano d'Adda
    Tourist

    Rudùn (the big wheel)

    Faithful reconstruction of the wheel wanted by San Carlo Borromeo to draw water and irrigate the gardens of the neighbouring archbishop's palace, the autumn residence of the Milanese prelates, who stayed there for hunting and grape processing. The bridge is neo-gothic.
  • Cassano d'Adda
    Cassano d'Adda
    Cultural

    Church of San Bartolomeo

    Neo-Gothic church.
  • Cassano d'Adda
    Cassano d'Adda
    Historical

    Leonardo's self-supporting bridge

    Self-supporting bridge designed by Leonardo da Vinci.

Description

At the entrance to the basilica, reach via Giuseppe Parini to the north by a pedestrian crossing and then the shore of the lake. Follow the pedestrian path by the lake until you return to via Costituzione at the level of a bridge. Continue to the right along a car park and turn right at the end of the pedestrian street on via Raffaello Sanzio to return to the lake. Follow this trail to the end of the lake marked by the Adda River and the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Bridge. Stay on this shoreline by continuing on a sidewalk and a shaded track that leads to the Azzone Visconti Bridge:

  1. Cross this bridge and continue on the opposite bank on via Ettore Monti then on the waterfront track, pass under the railway and join via Alzaia until you pass under the SS36 motorway which marks the beginning of Lake Garlate. Continue along the asphalt track that runs along the lake and crosses different parks (La Fornace, Marco, Torrete,...) with benches in the shade up to the junction with via Statale SP72. Follow this road, pass a roundabout and take the track on the left after the Mc Donald. Follow the asphalt track to the dam and the Vittorio Emanuele III bridge which mark the end of Lake Garlate and the beginning of Lake Olginate.

  2. Continue opposite on via Martiri della Liberta and then on the dirt track of via Lungo Lago next to a health trail that makes a loop before a water treatment plant. At the end of Lake Olginate and the industrial area, continue in the countryside on the track parallel to via dell Industria, pass under the pedestrian/bicycle footbridge, under the railway track by strada Alzaia and then under the suspension bridge of the SP74. Continue the track on this shaded shore, pass by a last factory (Costacurto Spa-Vico) to find the calm and noise of the water. Follow the Adda which makes a first meander and then a second meander as it approaches the SP72. Follow the dirt track along the waterfront to Brivio, the next village behind the third bend of the river.

  3. After a footbridge over a pool, turn left to reach the shore and follow the track to Via Leonardo da Vinci at a tower in the middle of Brivio. Pass under a bridge and, at the end of the village, follow the trail at the foot of the hillside. Leave on your right two hamlets (frazione Toffo and localita Molinazzo). At an island on the Adda, cross a footbridge, leave Arlate on the plateau to the right and continue on the shore to reach the pier of the boat that crosses the Adda. Continue along the waterfront to the Edison Semenza hydroelectric power plant.

  4. Turn left on the lock in front of a stone building and then right to continue the track on a strip of land between a canal and the river. Pass under the large San Michele metal bridge of the SP54 and continue to a chapel and a footbridge that allows you to cross a canal. Follow the track between the canal and the river to the Madonna della Rochetta sanctuary. Cross the canal by a footbridge at the foot of the sanctuary and continue on the right bank of the canal until the next footbridge at a lock that leads back to the other bank. At Edison Martini generating station, cross the canal again to follow the canal along the track to the next Edison Esterle generating station. Continue along this Via Alzaia until you reach Trezzo sull'Adda. The waterfront tour of the city is inaccessible due to a landslide, which means that you have to go up and cross through the city.

  5. At the pier, go up via Barnabo Visconti until you meet a stairway on the right. Take the stairs to Via Ermigli and follow it to the first street on the left (Via Roma) then the first street on the right (Via Antonio da Trezzo followed by Piazza della Liberta). At the end of the piazza, continue left on via Valverde until the second street on the right (via Pietro Marocco). In the bend to the left of this street, take the path that goes down to the edge of the Adda river. Pass under the SP104 bridge to reach the waterfront runway. Follow the shoreline, pass under the motorway bridge and reach a lock at a dam that marks the beginning of the Naviglio Martesana Canal. Follow the canal and, before the sanctuary of the Divina Maternita di Maria, cross the river to the other side by a bridge. The asphalt track approaches the undeveloped river near the Crespi d'Adda power station, then deviates from it in the Salecc park and joins Vaprio d'Adda by an industrial zone and via Alzaia Nord.

  6. At the bridge over the canal at the bottom of Vaprio d'Adda, continue on the SP575 sidewalk that crosses the Adda a little further. At this bridge, continue on the same side of the canal by the small road (via Alzaia sud) which, with the canal, turns right at the height of a stone bridge. Continue on the left bank of the canal which goes away from the Adda river and then gradually approaches it. Pass by the Vaprio d'Adda power station, in the Adda Morta nature reserve until you reach the Groppello d'Adda industrial estate where the canal is closest to the Adda. Join via Fara, continue along the canal via Cassano leaving three bridges on the right until the change of direction of the canal at right angles towards the West at Cassano d'Adda.

  7. At the bridge after the bend of the canal, turn left (Via Europa) until Via Vincenzo Gioberti (second street on the right). Turn left to the modern church.
  • Departure : Basilica San Nicolo, via San Nicolo 1, 23900 Lecco
  • Arrival : Church of the Annunciation, via Gioberti 30, 20062 Cassano d'Adda
  • Towns crossed : Lombardia

Altimetric profile


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