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

1dates

Middle Ages

6th century to 1449 · 1 date

  1. Second half of the 8th century

    A monastery on the mountain above Civate

    At the end of the Lombard kingdom a small monastery dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul is founded above Civate; legend credits King Desiderius with it. Between the 10th and the 11th century it becomes the Romanesque building of San Pietro al Monte, which can be reached only on foot.

    Place: Basilica of San Pietro al MonteStory: The monks' lake

    The oratory of San Benedetto at San Pietro al Monte, above Civate: a small stone church with slab roofs and a round apse with a little window, behind a stone wall that closes the terrace; lower down, beyond the bare woods, Lake Annone with villages round it and a road viaduct running past its tip, and in the distance mountains with snow on their summits under a blue sky.