Marian Path of the Alps Western Route - Stage Morbegno Berbenno

After covering another stretch on the Orobie side, passing through Talamona at the Parish Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the route crosses the river Adda and then climbs along the Rhaetian side of the Valtellina with its characteristic vineyard terraces. In Paniga, two churches with the same name are found: the older Madonna delle Grazie church and shortly after, the Madonna delle Grazie church built at the end of the 1960s. The latter is the center of the Paniga hamlet, skilfully blending into the surrounding landscape with a successful combination of tradition and contemporaneity, both in the building material (stone) and in the form (the sinuous lines, the circular turret emerging from the structure). The route continues on a flat stretch before climbing up to the locality of Gaggio with the church of the Blessed Virgin of Good Counsel, whose construction was made possible by a generous bequest from a faithful emigrant in Rome, who decided to dedicate the new church to Our Lady of Good Counsel, whose cult was spreading from Lazio at that time. After about 3 more km, you arrive at Buglio in Monte, at the Parish Church of St. Fedele, with the sobriety typical of Valtellina Baroque architecture, and after another eight kilometers, at the Parish Church of the Blessed Virgin Assumed in Berbenno, the second stage's destination, whose early 18th-century wooden door is among the most beautiful in Valtellina. Overall, a long stage but rewarding thanks to the beauty of the characteristic vineyard terraces, a symbol of Valtellina viticulture, and the sacred buildings encountered along the way.