Perledo
Hello everyone! Let's discover together the village of Perledo on the eastern shore of Lake Como.
Perledo is an Italian municipality with a population of around 894 inhabitants located in the province of Lecco in Lombardy. The village is about 3 kilometers from Varenna and is located right on the shores of Lake Como. Now, let's delve into the physical geography of the municipality.
Physical geography
The altitude of the entire territory of Perledo ranges from 199 to 1350 meters above sea level. The area offers numerous bathing areas such as the Lido di Perledo and Varenna, located near the mouth of the Esino stream, and the Lido di Riva di Gittana, near the border with Bellano. But the most interesting part for our four-legged friends is the dog beach called "Bau Bau Beach." It is located near the Olivedo hamlet, within the area called ''Malpensata,'' and it is the only authorized leash-free beach for dogs on Lake Como.
As for the mountains, the municipality offers numerous opportunities for hiking. There are the Mount Albiga (900 meters above sea level), Mount San Defendente - Agueglio (1,321 meters above sea level), Mount Sant'Ambrogio - Gisazio, and Mount Fopp - Vezio. Leaving the municipality and heading towards the valley, there is the Esino Valley where the Esino stream flows and the Masna Valley where the Masna stream flows.
For nature lovers, there is the Northern Grigna Park and the Nero di Varenna Quarry - Fine-Grained Limestone (micrite), which was once active in the Regolo hamlet. Here, blocks of intensely black and very compact marble were extracted from organic material deposited underwater devoid of oxygen in the form of slow-putrefying mud (sapropelite).
But the most impressive part of the municipality of Perledo is the fossils found in this area.
Fossils
Towards the end of the 1800s, fossils of extinct fish of a genus called Perleidus were found. This genus belonging to the class of actinopterygian fishes, lived between the Lower and Middle Triassic (340 - 325 million years ago). Its remains are found in numerous parts of the world such as Europe, Eastern Asia, West Africa, Madagascar, Greenland, and Spitsbergen.
Since 1984, the Perledo area and the Grigne Group have been the subject of scientific studies by the Department of Earth Sciences "A. Desio," University of Milan, in relation to the fossils found of Saurichthys. These studies have concerned both the remains of Perleidus and those of the Lariosaurus, another animal that inhabited the area many millions of years ago.
Conclusions
After this virtual visit, we hope to have made you acquainted with the beauty of the Municipality of Perledo. Not only does it offer natural and scenic beauties, but it is also a place of great historical and scientific importance. Now, we invite you to discover the beauties of this municipality in person, perhaps starting from the "Bau Bau Beach" dog beach. What are you waiting for? Take your bowls and go around the most characteristic village of Lake Como.
