Ghisallo

Museum Lake of Como, Italy

The Ghisallo Pass (Ghisàl in Lombard) is a road pass connecting the Valassina with the upper part of the Lariano Triangle. The pass point, at an altitude of 754 m s.l.m., is part of the municipality of Magreglio. A few meters from the pass is a small church: the sanctuary of the Madonna del Ghisallo. Its name (according to an ancient legend) comes from a certain Ghisallo who in medieval times in that place was attacked by brigands and made a vow to the Madonna to build a church in his honor if he escaped. The ascent of Ghisallo (from the north side) is traditionally traveled by the Giro di Lombardia and has also been repeatedly included in the Giro d'Italia track. For this reason, the Madonna del Ghisallo is particularly revered by cyclists, and on the initiative of the then parish priest Don Ermelindo Viganò (1906-1985), in 1949 Pope Pius XII proclaimed her the universal patron of cyclists. Next to the sanctuary stands the Cycling Museum; in the square in front of it there is a monument to the cyclist.