BELLANO, Orrido Di Bellano

As I have already mentioned, the charming village of Bellano is best known for a place with a suggestive name: the Orrido di Bellano.

The term 'orrido' in Italian makes one think of something frightening, but it is actually a word that can also be used as a synonym for gorge or canyon.

Walking through the streets of the village, in fact, near the ancient Church dedicated to Saints Nazario and Celso, you find the entrance to a path made up of footbridges, anchored to the rocks, overlooking a gorge carved, over 15 million years, by the Pioverna stream.

The presence of this canyon and other gorges in the neighboring areas is due to the erosion caused by the course of this rushing torrent and its tributaries, but also to the fact that, during the Ice Age, a glacier formed in the valley above it, which, as it melted later on, caused its waters to carve deep furrows along its slopes....