Skip to content

Stories from the lake

Lake timeline

Two thousand years of the lake in order of date: from the Roman road along the western shore to the first steamboat, from the fall of the Isola Comacina to the Olginate dam. Each date leads to the story that tells it and to the place where it happened.

Dates
82
Stories
27
Periods
6
Como harbour with the jetty and moored boats, the cathedral dome on the right and the Brunate hill behind the town.
Photochrom Print Collection · Public domain

Only the dates from the story ‘The monks' lake'All dates

2dates

Middle Ages

6th century to 1449 · 1 date

  1. 607–617

    Agrippinus founds an oratory at Piona

    Agrippinus, Bishop of Como, builds an oratory dedicated to Saint Justina the martyr on the Olgiasca peninsula and prepares his own tomb there. A stone pillar kept at Piona records it; a small community, probably of hermits, was most likely already living there.

    Place: Piona AbbeyStory: The monks' lake

    The Piona inlet, the bay enclosed by the peninsula, the Alps behind.

Twentieth century

1900–1999 · 1 date

  1. Monks return to Piona

    After centuries of absentee abbots and private owners, a group of Cistercian monks arrives from Casamari and takes possession of the priory, which the businessman Pietro Rocca has given to their congregation. A community of monks has lived at Piona ever since.

    Place: Piona AbbeyStory: The monks' lake

    The abbey's Romanesque cloister with its paired columns.