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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

2dates

Renaissance and foreign rule

1450–1699 · 1 date

  1. c. 1490

    Leonardo takes notes on the lake

    On a sheet of the Codex Atlanticus, Leonardo da Vinci lists the lake's valleys, rivers, waterfalls and mines, and advises making these trips in May. Of the Fiumelatte, which he calls Fiumelaccio, he writes that it falls sheer into the lake with an immense din and roar.

    Place: FiumelatteStory: Leonardo on Lake Como

    The Fiumelatte among the houses of the hamlet of Varenna that bears its name: the water, white with foam, drops in steps between moss-covered boulders, passes under a footbridge with a railing and, higher up, under a stone arch bridge; on either side plastered walls, an outside stair with a handrail, a wisteria in flower on a yellow house with green shutters and, on a pink house, a yellow sign reading “Fiumelatte”.

Twentieth century

1900–1999 · 1 date

  1. Where the Fiumelatte comes from

    A dye poured into the caves of the Moncodeno, on the north side of the Grignone, shows that the Fiumelatte is the outlet of a karst system inside the mountain. It usually flows from March to October; Leonardo had written that it ran only in August and September.

    Place: FiumelatteStory: Leonardo on Lake Como

    A narrow lane in Fiumelatte, the Varenna hamlet the torrent is named after.