In November of 2004 we visited Montorfano, a village near Lake Mergozzo, just north of Lago Maggiore.

It’s famous for the Romanesque church of St. John the Baptist, built in the 11th or 12th century (photos below).

above: This, I suppose, is the “orphaned mount” from which the town gets its name.

^ next to the church, ruins of much earlier buildings, dating from the 5th or 6th and 9th centuries.

an ancient waterway, used in transporting granite from a local quarry.

^ a house in the village with a Peace flag

old stone road

steps up to the restaurant where we ate lunch. These steps were originally build to get granite down from the quarry

same path, on the way back down