Madesimo (formerly Isolato, Madesan in Chiavennasco dialect) is a municipality of 582 inhabitants in the province of Sondrio, in Valle Spluga, including the hamlets of Madesimo, Pianazzo, Isola and Montespluga. Located at 1,550 m above sea level, it is the furthest Italian municipality from the sea (it is 294 km from the Ligurian Sea). It is part of the Valchiavenna Mountain Community.
It is a famous location for practicing winter sports, with over 60 km of slopes, numerous cross-country circuits, for snowmobile and snow kite excursions. Between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, the poet Giosuè Carducci holidayed there for numerous seasons.
Montespluga, an alpine village located at 1,908 m above sea level. along the state road that goes up from Chiavenna towards the Spluga pass, from which it is only 3 km away, in the plain at the confluence of the Spluga valley with the Loga valley. It has preserved its original appearance with the few houses around the road and the ancient customs building. It is a transit point along the cross-border route of the Via Spluga and is a starting point for numerous hiking, mountaineering and ski mountaineering destinations. In the 1930s, an artificial basin of the same name was built near the town, of which the town occupies the northern shore.