Rifugi di Lombardia

Codera Valley is known as one of the best examples of alpine valley preserved in its original appearance thanks to the absence of roads: indeed, even today, it’s served only by a mule track.

To visit the lower part of Codera Valley, along an eventual loop passing through the localities Codera and San Giorgio, along the Spluga Trunk Road 36, after the FS station in Novate Mezzola, you turn right according to the road signs (brown road signs) to Val Codera, and you drive up to the hamlet Mezzolpiano.

Once you reach the end of the road, you leave your car in one of the parking lots in the area and take the mule track to the valley, that immediately and gradually goes up into the woods with wonderful stretches in stony steps; you gain altitude quickly, then you reach a wider area under some rock walls, where a last series of steps leads us out of the steepest stretch.

After a small chapel in a wonderful panoramic position, the trail penetrates the valley over the top, passing through the locality Avedée, and through a rise and fall you go through the woods of Codera Valley. The village of Codera already appears in the distance, to disappear again, while the mule track follows the windy right side of the valley through some spectacular stretches on a sheer drop to the valley.

Finally, the route leads to a small chapel, then to the cemetery: just a few more steps and you glimpse the houses of the village, then you reach Codera (m. 825, 3 hours).
You can climb down along the same trail, but we suggest you to go through the valley, lengthening the route a little, descending through the nice hamlet of San Giorgio: once you cross the centre of the village of Codera, you climb down to the creek (road signs), you cross it over an ancient stone bridge, then you return along the opposite slope until the crossing with the famous Tracciolino, an old track, completely flat, because rail trucks passed through it.

At this point, you follow this route to arrive above the hamlet San Giorgio and you descend towards it: once you cross the village (m. 748, 2 hours from Codera), with pretty houses, a splendid fountain and the ancient church, you take the mule track that leads back to Novate Mezzola in approximately one hour.