Claino con Osteno
altitude 271/1,303 mt.
Going along Ceresio from Porlezza, after a few kilometers, you arrive at Claino con Osteno, a summer vacation center placed where Val d’Intelvi faces the Lake of Lugano.
The municipality is made of two different villages: Osteno, placed on the delta of the stream Telo and on the bank of the lake, and Claino, placed at 389 mt. of altitude, at a higher position.
During all the medieval age and during the period of the Comuni, it was an important strategic point, due to its access position to Val d’Intelvi. Of the ancient fortress of Osteno, the ruins of the wall and of a tower are still visible.
Before the village you can find the “orrido”, or “pescara”, bearing the same name, accessible only by boat and not very far from the Rescia Caves. At a higher position, with respect to Osteno, we can find the ancient borgo of Claino, rich of attractive medieval and renaissance houses with frescoed and painted facades.
SIGHTS
SS. Pietro and Paolo church, at Osteno
Of Romanesque origins, redecorated in the XVI century, characterized by a picturesque baroque staircase, the church preserves a marble Madonna with Child by A. Bregno (1464) and frescos by G. Quaglio.
S.Vincenzo church, at Claino
A seventeenth-century building, the church preserves a luinesca table (XVI century), a fresco dated 1492 bringing the signature of Gentilino, and other works of the sixteenth-century and after, among which a terracotta of the Clainese M. A. Prestinari (XVI sentury).
EVENTS
End of May – June: The alborella celebrations.
August: the Friendship March and dancing in the evening.
October: the chestnut festival.
