From Sondrio to Chiareggio

The sight-seeing tour of Sondrio can start from the Government Building, or Province Building (Palazzo del Governo and Palazzo della Provincia, respectively), also known as ‘Palazzo Muzio’, a severe building designed in 1930 by Giovanni Muzio, an architect from Milan. Not far from here, in the Campello square, you will see the Collegiate Church of St. Gervasio and St. Protasio (Collegiata dei Santi Gervasio e Protasio), one of the oldest churches of Valtellina, quoted for the first time in 1100.
The Palazzo Pretorio, seat of the Governor of Grisons in the 15th century and now seat of the City Hall, is located in the same square. Going something more eastwards you will find the 16th-century Palazzo Sassi dè Lavizzari. Its current look is due to some restoration works completed in the 18th century. Now it hosts the Valtellina Art and History Museum (Museo Valtellinese di Storia e Arte). Within walking distance is Palazzo Sertoli which is worth visiting for its beautiful ballroom whose walls and ceiling are covered with frescoes by Antonio Torricelli. The complex and the three palaces, all of which are owned by the Sertoli family, face onto Piazza Quadrivio, the salon of Sondrio. From here you can take the picturesque via Scarpatelli, a street full of suggestive views, galleries, arcades, inns, taverns and small chapels dedicated to the Virgin. In order to reach the Masegra Castle (Castello Masegra), a late-Medieval fortification, you have to climb the hill with the same name. In the basement of the castle you will see the rooms of the museum dedicated to the history of Grisons between 1512 and 1797. Once you are down the hill, you can restart your itinerary from piazza Cavour, also known as the Old Square (Piazza Vecchia) in ancient times, and then take via Beccaria. If you walk through the old city centre you will come across the Palazzo Martinengo, a palace which was built between 1602 and 1630. From 1992 it hosts a rich collection of minerals by Fulvio Grazioli (open only upon reservation) as well as the Protected Areas Documentary Centre (Centro Documentazione Aree Protette) set up in 1987. The palace faces onto the beautiful Piazza Garibaldi, the heart of the city which is full of distinctive old buildings such as the Pedretti Theatre (Teatro Pedretti) and the Grand Hotel della Posta, a historic hotel.
At the west side of the old city centre starts the provincial road of Valmalenco, which goes all up the valley up to Chiareggio (1612 m), a suggestive rural area sheltered by the perennial glaciers of the Mountain of Disgrazia and of Ventina.