September 26, 2026

Saturday

Sondrio, Sondrio, Italia

The Grand Hotel della Posta is wonderful. We have a nice large room and a comfortable bed. The shower is very nice was well. We elected not to have breakfast included in our room, not because of the price but because only one of actually eats breakfast. Unlike Vienna where breakfast was €35 per person per day, here in Sondrio it is only €10 per person per day. When you only have a cappuccino and brioche for breakfast €35 is outrageous. Even at €10 you are paying too much.

 A photo of Grand Hotel della Posta from Piazza Garibaldi

At 08:00 I went down to the breakfast room and Serra and the girls were there, as were Pietro’s cousins. Too many children running about, especially before any coffee, so I went across the square to Pasticceria Gelateria La Milanese for a cappuccino. Here a cappuccino is €1.70. When you combine a cappuccino with a brioche you only pay  €3.30.

Back to the hotel to see if Mary was getting up, she was. So, I walked over to Piazza Campello which is in front of Insigne Collegiata dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio (Distinguished Collegiate Church of Saints Gervasius and Protasius) where the Saturday market is held to get her something to eat.  The name of the church also translates to the notable collegiate church of the archpriests and plebeians of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, it is the principal place of worship in the city of Sondrio. Among the oldest in Valtellina, it was the head of a vast parish and already in the 12th century boasted the title of collegiate church.

The front of Insigne Collegiata dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio, the cmpanile on the right

The campanile and square where the market is on Saturday

The church was remodeled and enlarged several times before being completely demolished in the 18th century to make way for a much larger reconstruction designed by Pietro Lipari. Building began somewhere between 1727 and 1733. Ligari presented the designs for the six side altars, the execution of which was entrusted to Carlo Gerolamo Buzzi in two stages, in 1733 and 1737. The church was to have two large transepts, and the choir was to be built where the archpriest's house still stands today. The desire to simultaneously build the bell tower, and above all the lack of funds due to the huge expenses borne by the population following the numerous floods of the Mallero River, prevented the realization of Liga's grandiose project.

The Mallero River runs down through the valley which begins near Chiesa de Valmaleco and the Swiss boarder high above Sondrio to the southwest, and connects with the Fiume Adda in Sondrio, which begin high above Sondrio near Bormio and the Swiss Boarder, has long had a flooding problem. It wasn’t until The Val Pola landslide or Val Pola rock avalanche happened on 28 July 1987 that major efforts to control the flood were finally instituted. This disaster (destruction of villages, road closure, and flooding threat) with a total cost of 400 million euros.

Sorry got sidetracked again.  The point is in the Piazza Campello on Saturdays it is market day. So, I went over there to get Mary a piece of fruit for her breakfast. I bought a really nice-looking peach and took it back to her. Later I found out she gave it to the girls for their breakfast. Just after 08:40 Pietro texted me he was ready to go to the vineyard to start picking the grapes and it would be easiest if I rode with him. It had to do with the number of vehicles, car seats, and adult seats.

So, just before 08:00 Pietro and I set off to pick up Nonna Damilia who is staying at a B&B in Castione, where Serra & Pietro are building a house. We connected with her and drove to Berbenno where the vineyard is. Like most vineyards in the Valtellina it is a terraced vineyard with steep narrow slippery non-level stairs between the terraces, well most of the time. Sometimes you just have to climb down to the next terrace, or up as the case may be.

Pietro parked the car at the top of the vineyard just off of Via Bellavista just below the turn-off to go up Via Foppa towards Mariagiulia’s house. We then walked down through the vineyard to where Gregorio was with the tractor and the large bins for hauling the grapes to the press. Now, why did we park at the top of the vineyard and descend probably 40 meters to the road, rather than at least unload the car at the bottom where we carried all the stuff down, no one will every know.

Nonna Damilia and I put on out gloves, grabbed our pruning shears and bucks, and headed to the the first row of vines above the road with the tractor and began the work of harvesting grapes. Up one row, down the other side. Filling out buckets, carrying them down to the tractor, emptying our buckets and repeating. Fortunately, it is a cool morning. However, after fifteen buckets, I was done for. An hour and a half of picking grapes is about all I could do.

 The grapes look really good this year

On our way down to the bottom row of grapes to begin picking.

The entire family gets involved

Looking back up the vineyard towards the road.

Looking up the best set of stairs, and the last set of stairs before you get to the car park.

I took off my gloves, put down my shears and headed up the vineyard to the road above (Via Garibaldi). It was a slow walk up. I met Pietro’s father who had just arrived working his way down. A little later, closer to the road, I met Mary who had just arrived with Serra and the girls. I bid them ado and continued up the steps to the road, the walked up the road to Mariagiulia’s.

I arrived at Mariagiulia’s just after it had gone 11:00. She offered my water and I took it. I also took off my sweat-soaked shirt and put it outside to dry out. About 13:00 everyone arrived for lunch. Mary got there and she was also sweat-soaked and completely worn out. She had overexerted herself and, unfortunately, passed out while trying to get up out of a chair. We took her inside and made her drink water and get some food in her. Then Serra and I drove her back to the hotel so she could rest. Which she did for a couple hours

.Amadea being the center of attention in Mariagiulia’s yard

Luisa bouncing and have a good time

 The view towards Switzerland from Mariagiulia’s

Lunch for the field hands

About 18:00 we went down to Café Felix, a bar/café in the hotel, and had some cheese, salami, bread, chips, and more water for dinner. We were fortunate enough to also have some Sciatt. Sciatt is a traditional dish from the Valtellia made by coasting cubes of the local Valtellina Casera cheese in a thick buckwheat flour batter and frying them until the are a golden brown. Really good.

After our dinner we went back to our room and just took the rest of the night easy.

Buonanotte & Ciao

Enrico and Maria