Hikes to the glaciers of Lombardy

Hikes to the glaciers of Lombardy, from the Fellaria and the Ventina in Valmalenco to the Bivacco del Suretta above the Passo dello Spluga.

The glaciers of Lombardy are retreating fast, and the glaciological trails of Valmalenco show it with signs marking where the ice reached in past years: that is one of the reasons to go now.

The hikes on this page reach the Fellaria Glacier from the Rifugio Bignami, the Ventina Glacier from the Rifugio Gerli Porro and the Bivacco del Suretta, above the Passo dello Spluga.

Who measures the glaciers

Much of what we know about Lombardy's glaciers comes from the Lombardy Glaciological Service, which follows the glacier snouts across the region and, in 1996, together with the municipality of Lanzada, created the Luigi Marson glaciological trail at the Fellaria. The trail is named after the scholar who, between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, made some of the first scientific observations of the Valmalenco glaciers, and it shows how the landscape has changed since. According to the Service, between 2007 and 2021 the lake at the foot of the Fellaria grew to more than 200,000 square metres, becoming the largest natural lake in the valley, and contact with the water further speeds up the melting of the ice.

Glaciological trails are made for looking, not for getting too close. Ground recently freed from the ice is young and fragile, and the trail's managers ask walkers to stay on the marked line, both for safety and to avoid damaging it. The snout and the lake should be watched from a distance, because blocks of ice can break off and fall into the water and hollows in the snout can collapse without warning, while going onto the glacier itself requires a rope, crampons and someone who knows how to use them.