I suppose in another hundred years or so we
shall have a _St. Maria delle Ferrovie_--a St. Mary of the Railways.
From Ronco the path keeps level and then descends a little so as to cross
the stream that comes down from Piora. This is near the village of
Altanca, the church of which looks remarkably well from here. Then there
is an hour and a half's rapid ascent, and at last all on a sudden one
finds oneself on the _Lago Ritom_, close to the hotel.
The lake is about a mile, or a mile and a half, long, and half a mile
broad. It is 6000 feet above the sea, very deep at the lower end, and
does not freeze where the stream issues from it, so that the magnificent
trout with which it abounds can get air and live through the winter. In
many other lakes, as, for example, the _Lago di Tremorgio_, they cannot
do this, and hence perish, though the lakes have been repeatedly stocked.
The trout in the _Lago Ritom_ are said to be the finest in the world, and
certainly I know none so fine myself. They grow to be as large as
moderate-sized salmon, and have a deep-red flesh, very firm and full of
flavour. I had two cutlets off one for breakfast, and should have said
they were salmon unless I had known otherwise. In winter, when the lake
is frozen over, the people bring their hay from the farther Lake of
Cadagna in sledges across the Lake Ritom.
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