The best running trails around Brissago-Valtravaglia

Before running water arrived in homes, villages had public washhouses where women, often young maids, washed their laundry. They were places of work but also places of socialization: here, people met every day, exchanged news, and spread the typical village gossip. The first washerwomen were forced to wash in rivers, on their knees, and in the open, in all weathers.

Cave spiders can be found in the rifle range

Structure maintained in excellent condition.

Washhouse, Nasca from 1896, (Castelveccana) Before the introduction of running water in houses, there were public washhouses in the villages where women (mostly maids) of the families washed their laundry. They were also places where people went to socialize and chat. An important part of the women's social life took place there. A daily meeting place, so to speak, where you could find out about the latest news and current village gossip. The first laundresses were forced to wash their laundry in the river, on their knees and outdoors in all weathers.

Church of S. Maria Assunta in Porto Valtravaglia The original church was built between the 11th and 12th centuries. It was later enlarged by extending the aisle by two spans. In 1544, a chapel was added at the behest of the notary Giroldino Porto. In the second half of the 16th century, it was decided to enlarge the church after the number of believers had increased significantly. By 1596, the bell tower was built. In 1925, the then parish priest Don Giovanni Pozzi decided to convert the church into a neo-Romanesque style. However, the only measures actually carried out were the raising of the bell tower and the construction of an entrance to the wall of the side aisle. Text: Wikipedia

Signs of unspeakable torture were found on all the bodies found, signs clearly visible in the photographs taken before the burial, in order to allow their recognition". Five corpses found in Cucco were identified, the other three still remain without a name. Giorgio Bocca wrote that in the history of the Italian Resistance the battle of San Martino occupies a place of its own and is configured as an episode of Risorgimento inspiration. The Italians also contributed to the defeat of the partisans perched on San Martino, from the Republican interpreter, remembered by the parish priest of Arcumeggia, Don Alberto Marchesi, to the "X MAS, some of whom were dressed like Germans", according to the testimony of Don Ulderico Belli, coadjutor of Cuveglio. However, Colonel Croce was not as naïve as some recent historiography would have us believe.

In reference to the events of San Martino, historical researcher Francesca Boldrini writes: "Only one partisan dies in battle, Italo Corazza, hit when he arrives at the barracks to warn his comrades of what happened at the summit and a few hundred Germans. The partisans, taken prisoner at the top of San Martino, Lieutenant Alfio Manciagli (Folco), the soldiers Osvaldo Brioschi, Giovanni Vacca, Angelo Ventura, Elvezio Rossi, Franco Ghezzi, Gianfranco Colombo, Giuseppe Pellegatta will be shot, after the battle, in front at the Cadorna Barracks; those captured during the battle and subsequently, especially the men of the 1st company placed to defend the lower tunnels who left the position when they were abandoned by their commanders, will suffer the same fate, after barbaric torture.

Eight corpses were found on 4 April 1944 in a mass grave, in the Cucco area, "near the Molino d'Anna electric railway station, under Bosco Valtravaglia", as testified by the then parish priest of Cuveglio Don Mario Bedetti. After an attempt at identification, the bodies were first buried in a mass grave in the Roggiano cemetery and then recomposed on 27 April 1945 in the Mesenzana cemetery. In their memory a shrine was erected next to which a commemorative plaque was placed to remember the tragic event of the battle of San Martino.