Inside the Funicular. Special opening dedicated to tourism.

LANZO D'INTELVI (Como) The Lanzo Funicular opens its doors for the 4th Open Day, which will be held at the Belvedere on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. This will be an opportunity to review the restoration project 's progress, attended by institutional authorities, at a meeting starting at 11 a.m. The Lanzo-Santa Margherita Funicular was built in 1907 with Italian and Swiss capital and operated until 1977. A lengthy legal dispute, concluded only in 2011, prevented its reopening.

In 2020, the Region, which owns the facility, funded a feasibility study to reactivate the funicular for tourism purposes; while in 2024, the Committee launched the idea of opening a historical museum in the Lanzo station, declaring its willingness to operate it free of charge. But the facility is still waiting to see what its future holds. "The recent reopening of the Monteviasco tourist cableway in the Varese area," says Adalberto Piazzoli, president of the Committee, "is the result of synergy between the Region, local authorities, and the central government, and encourages us to pursue its restoration with primarily public funding, perhaps European funding." The event is promoted by the Committee for the Reactivation of the Funicular, the Lanzo d'Intelvi Sports Union, Valle Intelvi Turismo, and Appacuvi, the Association for the Protection of the Artistic and Cultural Heritage of the Intelvi Valley. This year, a historical-artistic presentation on the funicular by Professor Giuseppe Gervasini is scheduled. The funicular's remarkable achievement in the "Places of the Heart" competition will be discussed, along with how the funds for which an application has been submitted are intended to be used. Regional councilors will also outline the motion unanimously approved in January regarding the system's restoration and the steps taken to achieve that goal. At the end, a bilingual tourist sign created by the Committee will be unveiled.

Paola Pioppi

Article Tags