Ghisallo

Museum Lake of como, Italy

Colle del Ghisallo (Ghisàl in Lombard) is a road pass that connects Valassina with the upper part of the Lariano Triangle. The crossing point, at an altitude of 754 m a.s.l., is part of the municipality of Magreglio. A few meters from the pass there is a small church: the sanctuary of the Madonna del Ghisallo. Its name (according to an ancient legend) derives from a certain Ghisallo who in medieval times was attacked in that place by brigands and made a vow to the Madonna to build a church in his honor if he escaped. The Ghisallo climb (from the north side) is traditionally covered by the Giro di Lombardia and has also been included several times in the Giro d'Italia route. For this reason, the Madonna del Ghisallo is particularly venerated by cyclists, and on the initiative of the then parish priest Don Ermelindo Viganò (1906-1985), in 1949 Pope Pius XII proclaimed her universal patroness of cyclists. Next to the sanctuary stands the cycling museum; in the square in front there is a monument to the cyclist.