Discover Novate Mezzola

Novate Mezzola brings together several highlights to consider when planning your trip: Lake Mezzola, trails into Val Codera and a local history shaped by granite. The village is accessible by car via the SS 36, as well as by train and STPS buses. The destinations and themes below offer different starting points for your plans.

Hiking in Val Codera

Val Codera has no road access. Footpaths connect its old rural settlements and alpine pastures. A hike into the valley can start at Novate Mezzola railway station or in Mezzoalpiano, where parking is available. This gives you two different starting points to choose from when planning, without assuming a specific duration for the hike.

San Giorgio di Cola is a mountain hamlet at the entrance to Val Codera. It lies in a meadow behind a granite outcrop. It can only be reached via a steep mule track from Novate Mezzola or along the Tracciolino trail; trail conditions may vary seasonally. If you plan to visit San Giorgio, check trail conditions beforehand. The mountain hamlet combines a striking setting with its own architectural and museum themes.

The lake and water activities

Lake Mezzola stretches between Verceia and Novate Mezzola. Forests, cliffs and mountains surround the lake and shape the landscape. Activities on the water include kayaking, canoeing, stand-up paddleboarding, rowing and boat trips. You can choose from a range of water activities during your stay, rather than seeing the lake only as a scenic backdrop.

Near Novate Mezzola, at the northern end of Lake Mezzola, stands the Romanesque Tempietto di San Fedelino. It can be reached by boat from Novate Mezzola. Visiting this building offers a different focus from hiking into Val Codera or taking part in an activity on the lake.

Churches and granite heritage

Artists and craftspeople worked on the Chiesa della Santissima Trinità di Novate Mezzola between 1685 and 1715; their work was funded by Bishop Francesco Giani. The Museo Picapreda on Piazza Europa is a small museum that preserves the history of granite working in the village. For generations, local stonemasons quarried and worked Sanfedelino granite in Novate Mezzola. The church, museum and craft tradition thus offer different ways to explore local cultural history.

The church in the mountain hamlet of San Giorgio di Cola also has a distinctive architectural feature: its semicircular apse, with external pilaster strips, shows Romanesque characteristics. Together with the hamlet’s location in a meadow behind the granite outcrop, this presents a different picture from the cultural sites in the village itself.

The Museo della Val Codera

The Museo Storico Etnografico Naturalistico della Val Codera was founded in 1982, recognized by Regione Lombardia and organized as an ecomuseum with sections in Codera and San Giorgio. The section in San Giorgio is housed in a former stable and hayloft. The museum preserves stonemasons’ tools in its section on granite quarrying and working.

Other exhibits show different aspects of everyday life, including tools used by farmers, blacksmiths and shoemakers, kitchen fittings and utensils, and hand-embroidered clothing and household linens. The subjects range from stoneworking to agricultural, craft and domestic activities. This can help you decide whether you are more interested in granite heritage or in the wider story of everyday life in Val Codera.

Cycle routes and wildlife watching

A cycle path runs along the river through Mese, Gordona and Samolaco, reaching the lake near Novate Mezzola after a total of 17 kilometres. Along the lakeside cycle route, brown hares and kingfishers can be spotted near the dam. The cycle routes add another way to experience the landscape and its wildlife, alongside hiking and water activities.

Discover more destinations: Gordona, Buglio In Monte, Forcola, Tresivio, Villa di Tirano, Tartano, Campodolcino, Aprica.

For the broader travel overview: Sondrio.