Our story begins way back in 1462 when the Piuro authorities acquired the rights regarding the Val di Lei from Counts Erdenberg- Sargans for the sum of 101 gold florins. At that time no-one imagined the strategic importance that this mountain territory was to assume here, 2000 metres up on the border between the Grisons and Valtellina and accessible from Campodolcino and Piuro solely on foot.

But let’s ‘fast-forward’ to the 20th century, my childhood, and a construction project to build a dam between Switzerland and Italy which began in 1956.

Yes – the early 50’s – an August morning in the company of three priest elders; we left the Casa Alpina at Motta and headed for Angeloga before veering towards the lengthy Val di Lei itself and so to Dogana and the construction site. An impressive cable car system from Campodolcino was to prove a vital link to the site village occupied by 3400 workers and technicians. One of our party had in fact been appointed ‘site chaplain’ in a ‘parish’ exposed to winds from all quarters. Further parishioners on this high alpine pasture included hundreds of grazing cattle and at a tiny church dedicated to Sant’Anna a local herdsman confided ‘Next year will be our very last – it’s all to be flooded’. And so it was – a dam situated just inside Italian territory but to be overseen by the Swiss Federation.

Back down via the ‘Serenissima’ route and a day’s excursion that left a deep impression on a young fellow. History being made – in the shape of a vast construction – before his very impressionable eyes.