Between the Towers of Fraele and the reservoirs of Cancano, a lake that has been fished for centuries.
Lake Scale is the only natural lake in the Val di Fraele, set in a valley that runs north-east to south-west between the Platòr peaks and Monte delle Scale, not far from the Towers of Fraele. It has no inflow or outflow, fed entirely by underground springs, and its clear water covers some 53,000 m². It once belonged to the noble Alberti family of Bormio, who farmed its fish for the weeks of Lent. Still privately owned today, it offers rare conditions for trout to spawn naturally. Here the fish are not only stocked, they are born.
Three salmonids share these waters, some stocked, some born here in the lake's cold springs.
Permits are sold directly by the property. Call us, or come by the office in Isolaccia, we’ll set you up for the day.
Check the water and the weather before you set out. The live view updates straight from the shore.
Lake Scale lies in the Val di Fraele, above the reservoirs of Cancano and the Towers of Fraele, a short drive above Bormio, in the Valtellina, Lombardy.
They tell of a demon that could change shape without changing nature: the Black Angel, who appeared among the smoke of the iron forges, and Ravan, a ten-headed monster that made the mountains tremble. When the Christian farmers blessed their people and beasts with water from the lake, only then would the Angel cover his face and dissolve into the peaks.
The brotherhoods of Molina and Premadio, in white robes and red cloaks, argued over which monstrous egg had hatched him. On one thing they agreed: angel or monster, he commanded all those who, along the path of the Scale, spread terror through the Val di Fraele.
Long before the permits and the fly rods, the Val di Fraele was already a place people travelled to.
