The Church Above Lake Como

If you have spent any time around Tremezzo, Cadenabbia or Griante, you have probably seen San Martino without knowing what it is.

Look up.

High on the mountainside behind Griante is a small white building, sitting alone against an enormous wall of rock.

From the lake it looks almost inaccessible.

It isn't.

The Santuario della Madonna delle Grazie di San Martino stands at around 475 metres above sea level, on a natural terrace overlooking the central lake.

You walk.

And that is rather the point.

The Lake Disappears Before It Returns

The route begins around Griante and initially gives little indication of what is waiting above.

You climb away from the lake through the village and onto an old mule track. The path continues uphill through woodland, passing small devotional chapels along the way.

It is not a long walk, but it is almost continuously uphill.

On a warm summer morning you will notice that.

For much of the climb the trees obscure the lake. You know it is behind you, occasionally catching pieces of blue through the branches, but the great panorama you started with below has largely disappeared.

Then the path comes out of the woods.

And Lake Como returns all at once.

This is where the walk changes.

The path begins traversing the mountainside and the view opens across Griante, Tremezzo and the centre of the lake. Bellagio appears opposite, sitting on the promontory where the water divides towards Como and Lecco.

Places that feel separate when travelling between them by road suddenly become part of the same landscape.

Then You Reach the Church

San Martino itself is small.

That matters.

A larger building would probably ruin the place.

The church sits beside a meadow on the mountainside, with benches and tables nearby and almost nothing between you and the lake hundreds of metres below.

Walk out onto the grass and the entire central lake opens in front of you.

Bellagio is directly across the water. The Grigne rise beyond it. The villages of the western shore sit below your feet, and boats that seemed substantial when you were beside them have become tiny white marks crossing the blue.

It is one of those rare viewpoints where Lake Como looks bigger rather than smaller from above.

They flatten the distance between the water, the mountains and Bellagio. Standing there, the scale is completely different.

And unlike many of the famous viewpoints around the lake, there is relatively little between you and it.

No terrace selling Aperol.

No hotel.

No queue.

Just a church, a meadow and an enormous amount of Lake Como.

Why Is There a Church Up Here?

The building has stood on the mountain for centuries.

San Martino existed by the end of the sixteenth century and later became known as the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie.

Its story is tied to a local legend.

According to tradition, a young shepherdess discovered a wooden statue of the Madonna and Child hidden in a cave in the mountain. The statue, thought to date from the fifteenth century, was taken down to the parish church in the village.

It did not stay there.

The story says it disappeared and was subsequently found again on the mountain at San Martino.

The villagers interpreted this as a sign.

The Madonna, apparently, had chosen her view.

The statue was returned to San Martino, where it remains associated with the sanctuary today.

Whether you believe the story is not especially important.

Standing outside the church, it is easy to understand why generations of people wanted to attach meaning to this particular piece of mountain.

San Martino is not a difficult hike, but it is a much better one at the right time of day.

In summer, go early.

The climb is more pleasant before the heat builds and the central lake is often calmer in the morning. The light is softer, the boats fewer and there is a reasonable chance that when you reach the top you will have the meadow largely to yourself.

Wear proper trainers or walking shoes and take water.

Allow more time than the distance suggests.

Not because the walk takes particularly long, but because arriving and immediately turning around rather misses the point.

Sit down.

Bellagio will remain exactly where it is.

Watch the ferries crossing between the three shores. Find Tremezzo below you. Follow the road along the water towards Menaggio. Look across towards the Grigne.

Then look back at the path you have just climbed.

Lake Como has no shortage of places from which to photograph Lake Como.

Some involve a restaurant reservation.

Others require a boat.

A few involve driving until the road becomes narrow enough to make you reconsider the entire exercise.

San Martino asks for something simpler.

About an hour of your morning.

Perhaps that is why the view feels different when you get there.

You haven't been delivered to it.

You have watched the lake disappear behind the trees, climbed the mountain above Griante and then seen the whole thing reveal itself again from 475 metres.

Down on the water, San Martino is a tiny white mark on the mountainside.

Once you have walked up there, you will always look for it.

And that may be the best reason to go.