Pian di Spagna

This locality is at the most northern tip of Lake Como beyond the river Mera. It is a vast area at the mouth of Valtellina and of the Mera valley, which was afflicted by malaria and floods up to the 19th century.
Its name is due to the Spanish camps which existed during the XVII and XVIII centuries. From the Fort of Fuentes, bastion of Catholicism erected in 1603 on the hill Monteggiolo, the only hill on the plain, they patrolled the Larian territory and the plains of Valtellina and Val Chiavenna.

The drainage of the territory was undertaken and completed by the Austrians in 1858. They brought about the channelling of the end part of the Adda and, after about 4 kilometres of straight artificial watercourse, the river flows directly into the lake. The entire area north of the new channel was thus retrieved.

The exceptionality of this swampy area, today a natural reserve, is the fact of it being one of the very few internationally important humid areas in an Alpine country. It constitutes the ideal environment for many types of animal residents and numerous species of migratory birds; it is where deer that populate the area come to drink. The reed-beds, for example, which extend across the areas not yet drained, offer refuge to many migratory bird-nests such as the reed-warbler, the mute swan and tens of other animal species which are more or less protected.