Tracciolino

Tracciolino is a must-have ride every rider’s repertoire. Located at the northern tip of Lake Como, this trail lays on an old mining railway at 1000 meters above sea level, offering stunning views of the lake, passing though unlit mining tunnels and unspoiled, lush valleys. Enjoy our photostory in this article!

Summary

Landscapes:
Fun:
Fitness level:
Technical skills:

Trail in numbers

Distance: 25 km
Total climb: 700 m
High point: 1074 m
Ridable: 100%
Duration: 3-5 h

Highlights

Lake Como. This trail offers stunning views over Lake Como and the smaller Lake Mezzola. The entire trail is quite exposed and the lake is always in line of sight, so you will always be riding with an amazing alpine lake backdrop.
Mining train tracks. Tracciolino is actually a mining railroad. You will see the railway and the vehicles used to transport ore to and from the mines. You will also encounter some mining tunnels, dark and damp but very suggestive (you will feel like Indiana Jones!), that connect different sides of the mountain.
On the southern tip of the trail you’ll find a dam forming a pool that supplies water to a hydroelectric power plant located down below in the valley.

Useful info

When to go: April to November.
Trail options: the track reported here is the shortest and easiest version to tackle the Tracciolino, then of course there are many variants possible. One of our favorites is the one that you can see in this video , which descends down into Val Codera and then the ghost town of San Giorgio (very cozy, but deserted) before heading back down to the main valley tarmac road. We recommend reaching out our good friends of ItalyBike Adventures, that can sort you out with a guided tour to make sure you will only have to concentrate on having fun in safety rather than stressing about times and directions.
Food and Water: there is a water fountain right below the beginning of the railway, so you can fill up at the end of your climb. Then, we cannot recall any other fountain along the track, so make sure you carry sufficient water for 3 to 5 hours. There are no restaurants, you will need to pack your food.
Recommended gears&bike: a hardtail is definitely allright to follow this track – however be aware that it will not be so comfortable to ride on a train track, with all its evenly-spaced tiles. If you wish to explore Val Codera and have some more fun downhill, then an all-mountain bike (full suspension, fork travel of at least 140mm) will help you out.
Starting point: Verceia, province of Sondrio, Italy. You can reach this place by car, it will take some 1.5 hours from Milan. You can also reach Verceia by regional train transport from Milan or Como, in less than 2 hours.

Table of contents:

Photostory
Maps and stats

Photostory

This is a real classic of the area: every rider living in northern Lombardy knows it and has ridden it at least once. The “Tracciolino” is and will always be an evergreen – and for many good reasons as you’ll discover reading this article.
It is mid October in Italy but we are lucky enough to have yet another weekend with an amazing weather and warm conditions. Maria is in town and we want to have a mountain bike getaway for one day, so we can’t go to far from Milan.
We consult with Luca, my friend and founder of Italybikeadventures (www.italybikeadventures.com) , who is happy to join us and take us to the Tracciolino, which is some 90 minutes drive from Milan.

The elevation profile of this trail is rather simple: a single ~800 m uphill on paved and gravel roads, and then a flat trail at 1000mt , followed by a downhill through some single tracks cutting the road used for the uphill.

So what is this Tracciolino? It is a small railway connecting several mines located in these valleys at the north of the Como lake. It unfolds across many valleys at an elevation of 1000 meters through a maze of claustrophobic tunnels, and it offers stunning views of the underlying lake of Novate-Mezzola and the valley bordering the northern tip of Como lake.

Enjoy the video down below (referred to a previous trip in 2012) and the photostory !