iCyclades - Cyclades Discovery Guide

Beautifully integrated into the heart of the village, the church of Sonogno was built on the site of an old 16th century church. It retained its 1782 bell tower when it was rebuilt in 1854.

We are here on the village square of Sonogno (alt. 919m), a little over 30km from Locarno (alt. 200m). It is the last village in the Verzasca Valley that can be reached by car and it takes almost an hour to drive there.

The museum is hosted in this large house, Casa Genardini, where an exhibition on the popular traditions of the Verzasca Valley was held in 1974. Five years later, this exhibition led to the creation of the Museum of Val Verzasca, which presents the history, culture and traditions of the valley.

We are here at the end of the Strada dai Casèll, in front of the Strada dal Fórn that goes through the village centre. Behind us, the stroll continues to the waterfall of La Froda.

Strada dai Casèll connects, to east, Strada dal Fórn, which runs through the centre of the village of Sonogno, to Strada de Redòrta, which follows the river of the same name upstream, to the west.

The Strada dal Fórn is the "Oven Road", so called because it is the street where the communal oven is located, where in the past the bread of the whole community was cooked.

In 1850, there were 334 inhabitants in Sonogno, but there has been a lot of emigration and less than 90 remain. However, the village is still very much alive thanks to the old renovated rustic houses that have become second homes.

The village was known in 1200 as Sornono, then in 1417 as Senognio. From the 14th century onwards, the inhabitants, who were mainly engaged in sheep farming, practised transhumance, wintering on the Magadino plain between Lake Maggiore and Bellinzona.

After the emigration of many of its inhabitants in the second half of the 19th century, Sonogno found a new life in the 1970s with the development of tourism. Here you will find accommodation, restaurants, shops selling local products and handicrafts, and everything you need for an invigorating stay in unspoilt nature.

Our view here is to the east, towards the village, at the spot where Strada de Redòrta seems to split in two. It continues to the right towards the south of the village to join the main road. To the left is Strada dai Casèll, which goes to the centre of the village.

The view is towards east (Sonogno village). The small road of Val Redorta is closed to traffic, except for the occupants of the houses along it and for the clients of the grotto which is a little further on.

Our view here is oriented towards the lane that leads to the car park, the village square is behind us.

On the right of the satellite map you can see the large car park between the village and the Verzasca river. It is a paying car park where it is possible to spend the night, but it gets full quite quickly during the summer months.

Our virtual stroll starts here, between the paying car park and the village centre. It will take you through Sonogno and then westwards to the waterfall of La Froda, a half-hour walk away.

This old bread oven is still sometimes used. It is a "banal" (communal) oven, which was once used to bake bread for the whole village. A "banal" oven was once subject to the "ban", i.e. the right of the lord, who made such an oven available to his subjects for a fee.