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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

Middle Ages

6th century to 1449 · 1 date

  1. 1336–1338

    Azzone Visconti's bridge at Lecco

    Azzone Visconti, lord of Milan, has the bridge built over the Adda where the river leaves the lake. It has eight arches; the people of Como, convinced that its narrowing floods their town, obtain three more between 1354 and 1440.

    Place: Ponte Azzone ViscontiStory: When the lake comes into town

    The bridge and its arches over the water, the snow-capped mountains above Lecco behind.

Twentieth century

1900–1999 · 1 date

  1. The Olginate dam regulates the lake

    Downstream of Lecco, between the lakes of Garlate and Olginate, the Consorzio dell'Adda's dam goes into operation, with eight fourteen-metre openings. It holds back water during floods and releases it in dry spells, and it reduces the number of times Piazza Cavour in Como ends up under water.

    Place: LeccoStory: When the lake comes into town

    The Olginate dam on a sunny day: a row of concrete piers joined by a white walkway crosses the river, and between one pier and the next the water spills over the gates in a strip of white foam; behind, the calm lake, the houses of a town and rocky mountains, on the right a wooded slope and a house with a red roof, in the foreground blue-green water over a bed of pebbles and a grassy bank.