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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. The castle of Nesso is destroyed

    In the war against the Medeghino, the castle that Como had built in 1449 above the gorge of Nesso is destroyed. What remains is a wall up to fifteen metres high.

    Place: San Lorenzo Castle, NessoStory: The Medeghino, lord of the lake

    The castle's crenellated walls with an ivy-covered turret, on the grassy top, above the blue lake and the mountains of the far shore.

Nineteenth century

1800–1899 · 1 date

  1. 1880s

    The fence against smuggling

    The Guardia di Finanza builds a long wire fence along the Swiss border, the ramina, with an alarm of bells fixed on springs. Smugglers cross the border in secret with the bricolla, a jute sack holding up to thirty-five or forty kilos of cigarettes, salt or coffee.

    Place: Lanzo d'IntelviStory: The smugglers' lake

    The church of San Lucio on the pass, against a low sun: walls of stone and flaking plaster, an arched porch and two arched niches, a roof of stone slabs and the bell tower with its open belfry, the sun breaking out beside it; around it the pasture grass and, far off, the mountains in a golden haze.