05/13/2025 – Up, and up, and up we go, dashing through the snow!
After a filling breakfast, we started on the road to Campodolcino. Campodolcino is a small hamlet in the Italian Alps near the border with Switzerland. Our fascination with the area is based on a book by Mark Sullivan called, “Beneath the Scarlet Sky.” The true story is about a young man who grew up in Milan prior to WWII. When the Allies started bombing Milan, Pino Lella’s parents sent him and his brother to safety in a monastery in Campodolcino called Casa Alpina di Motta. The priest there, Father Luigi Re, tells Pino to get to know the trails in the area. Once he is familiar, he tasks Pino with guiding Jewish refugees and political refugees over the mountains and into the safety of neutral Switzerland. Pino is a teenager at this time, and when he turns 18, by law he must either join the Italian Army (and be sent to near certain death at the front), or join the Nazis. His parents, who loved their son very much, make him join the Nazis in order to keep him safe. His life story of how he becomes an informant for the Allies is amazing, and made even more so by the writing of Mr. Sullivan. As we read his book, we could see in our minds everything exactly as it happened. It is a fantastic story with equally fantastic writing! While we were in Campodolcino, we stayed in a hotel which is nestled just a couple hundred yards from the Casa Alpina. We even hiked in the area where Pino lead the refugees. Gazing from the dining room window, we could even see the house that Pino’s son used to own. The area now is home to a lot of ski slopes and hiking trails, one of which we hiked. This ski slope had an area with a huge statue of the Madonna of Europe, along with prayers engraved in the wall. (What must skiers think when seeing this for the 1st time?) At this memorial, we found the tomb of Father Luigi Re! We marveled at the steepness of the still snow-covered slopes that Pino used to guide these survivors to safety, in all kinds of weather. We were in awe to be hiking in this area. Kathy even made a snow angel while on our hike! We highly recommend the book to all.
The Hotel Tambo where we stayed is pretty much a ski resort. They will close down in June, and then re-open for a couple of months in the summer. The hosts were outstanding people who took great pains to answer our questions and give us a great experience. (We think we might be the only guests.) The meals here were also first-rate. Even though we only stayed one night, we were so happy to have this experience.
Well worth the visit we think, winter or summer, even though…… the road up to this area was a bit hair-raising! There were so many switchbacks, the GPS looked like a seismograph! The turns were so tight, that at one point, while taking a hairpin turn, Dave looked next to him and saw the rear end of his vehicle as it was still trying to make the turn! The poor little Fiat was very happy to finally arrive at the hotel, the odor of transmission gear oil wafting in the breeze was a what a trained investigator would call a clue.
