TIRANO
ITALY - SCENIC PILGRIMS
Bernina Express to Basilica Madonna di Tirano
Tirano
is a smallish city of less than 10,000 souls in the Valtellina valley of Lombardy,
northern Italy. One may find oneself in Tirano if transiting between
Italy and Switzerland whether by car or rail, or bus. Especially if
taking
the scenic Bernina Express from St Moritz or Chur. Tirano is the end of the
line of the Rhaetian Railway where it meets up with the Italian State Railway
from Milan. The two separate railway stations sit opposite from one another
across a stone paved square lined with restaurants and bars. Arriving on the
train from Switzerland, a small police office
in the Rhaetian station is the
border stop, one of the few left where Italian State Police still check passports.
Switzerland
recently joined Shengen Europe so visas aren't an issue, but the stamp is a
nice souvenir. The state rail station has an old world feel left
from the steam days when Mussolini
got the
Italian
trains
to
run
on time.
If
making
the connection
between trains or if just taking the Bernina Express from Switzerland (see Scenic
Bernina Express) to the end of the line and returning, one might ask what is there
to do or see in Tirano?
Tirano has been a transit point for pilgrims crossing the Alps since the middle-ages.
Tirano’s best known feature is the great pilgrimmage church, the Basilica
Madonna di Tirano, just on the edge of town against the backdrop of mountain
slopes. On September 29, 1504, during the Feast of St Michael, a vision of
the Virgin Mary appeared to Mario Degli Omodei, when the plague was ravishing
western Europe and told him to build a sanctuary to travelers. Six months after
her appearance, the first stone of the basilica was laid and the pestilance
of the plague passed. The beautiful church of late Renaissance style architecture
with its high tower and dome roof, but an interior of later Baroque ornate
decoration has been attracting religious pilgrims and tourists in the 500 years
since. 
The Madonna di Tirano Basilica, designed by the Rodari brothers, architects
from the Lake Lugano region in Ticino sits on a square of little tourist restaurants
and a small city Ethnographic History Museum. It is a curious sight when the
trains roll into town. The railroad tracks run right down the middle of the
street, cutting across the Basilica square. You can see the Madonna di Tirano
Basilica from the train window as it passes, but to reach it from the rail
stations requires about a 15 minute walk. Across from the church look for the
fresco from 1513 depicting the appearance of the Blessed Virgin, its a bit
worn with all those pilgrims.
The
Madonna Basilica was originally outside of Tirano, where the medieval walls
protected the town from the pass crossing the stream of the river from Poschiavo
(in Italian speaking Switzerland). The old town of Tirano - the Centro Storico
- is in the opposite direction from the famous landmark church, making them
a challenge to visit both if only having a short stopover between trains. There
are lots of pizza and pasta restaurants and cafe/bars around Tirano serving
the tourists who come for the church and the trains. The restaurants around
the
station
square
allow
a lunch with a local Birra Castello while watching the passing parade of transiting
tourists on weekends or gangs of school kids escaping class of the nearby middle
school in the more modern city center a street away across the Viale Italia.
The train lines pretty much stop in Tirano. By car, the roads either lead up
through the Bernina Pass into Switzerland (see Driving Bernina Pass) or into
the Italian Alps, to the Stelvio National Park and on to Austria. For travelers
on the Swiss railways you can get to Tirano on the Swiss Pass (see Swiss
Pass - Train, Bus or Boat). It is also possible to take the Swiss
Post Bus from Tirano to Lugano in Ticino and the lakes of Lugano and Maggiore,
a
trip
of
about 3 hours. From
there one could continue to Milan or Torino, or across the Gotthard Pass to
Lucerne (see Wilhelm
Tell Express). If heading into Italy, the state rail line
runs to Milan on the Trentalia system. If just spending a few hours stop over
in Tirano between trains or the bus, it is possible to deposit luggage at the
station. If a stay over is in the cards the Bernina
Hotel is across the square
from the stations. © Bargain
Travel Europe
Find the best vacation deals in Tirano
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Tirano
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See
Also:
HOTEL
VILLA KINZICA -
LAGO d'ISEO
CASTLE
TOBLINO
TRENTINO
WINE TOURING
AGRITOURISMO COOKING COURSES IN MARCHE
