A northern Italian gem (Edolo (Italy))

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Edolo (Italy)
Date:	10/08/09 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gorgeous surroundings, nice town, friendly people

Disadvantages: Not a lot of public transport

At the beginning of the year in 2006, I saw my girlfriend (now wife) off at Milan-Bergamo airport and then set out on aiming towards Turkey by hitchhiking.

Getting a ride succesfully on to the highway near Bergamo proved difficult though and after some deliberating, I decided it was time to go "off the map" and head on to some smaller roads even though they were kind of in the wrong direction, since people are usually more open in the country. Progress is progress, sort of! My luck came at the site of a car crash where traffic was held up and before I knew it, I was heading past the north of Lake Iseo and along the beautiful Camonica Valley. I ended up getting stuck once again at a place called Breno and ended up taking the last bus (which was a replacement service for the train) up to Edolo (I was trying to get out of Italy as quickly as possible!) and this was the furthest north any transport went.

Obviously at the time of arriving Edolo was dead, it was a winter's night not long after New Year and I was the only person left on the bus. I pondered over spending the night at the train station but the only waiting room was long since closed and it was extremely nippy outside.

I set out through the cobbled streets of Edolo in search of a place to stay and although most places were shut up by this time, I found that the Auberge Alberto Angelo was open and more than adequate and relatively cheap at around 30 euros including breakfast.

Edolo is a picture perfect little village with wonderful cobbled streets, bridges over small streams, a church and some nice houses. It's livelier in the day with several cafes and bakeries, there are no landmarks but the mountains surround the town from all sides and looking towards Switzerland there are 3 very large snow-capped peaks. It's the kind of place to base yourself whilst exploring the nearby region - it looked preferable to the nearby ski resort of Aprica. I'd like to go back one day, preferably with a bit more money!

Summary: Worth a little visit or a good place to base yourself