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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

Only the dates from the story ‘The Medeghino, lord of the lake'All dates

4dates

Renaissance and foreign rule

1450–1699 · 4 dates

  1. The Medeghino settles at Musso

    Gian Giacomo Medici, known as the Medeghino, installs himself as castellan of the stronghold on the Sasso di Musso and turns it into a fortress and a palace. With an armed flotilla he raids the lake's trade and its shoreline villages and rules the upper lake.

    Place: Sant'Eufemia, MussoStory: The Medeghino, lord of the lake

    The little church of Sant'Eufemia on the Sasso di Musso on a late-winter day: on the left the cracked plastered wall of the church and the arched porch on two stone columns, with its roof of stone slabs; a hiker with a backpack and poles walks across the paving; beyond a dry-stone wall and a sloping meadow with a tree in dry leaves and two picnic tables, the lake stretches towards a hazy horizon, with the mountains of the far shore, a snow-capped peak and, on the shore to the right, the houses of a village.

  2. Charles V makes the Medeghino Marquis of Musso

    Now in the emperor's service, the Medeghino is granted the marquisate of Musso over many lands around the lake, Como excepted, with full jurisdiction and the right to mint coins. The coat of arms of the municipality of Musso bears the crown of that marquisate.

    Place: MussoStory: The Medeghino, lord of the lake

  3. 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.

  4. The castle of Musso is dismantled

    After the war that began in 1531 against the Grey Leagues, the Swiss cantons and the Duke of Milan, the Medeghino comes to terms with the duke: he gives up Musso, Lecco and the other lands he holds and receives the marquisate of Marignano. The castle on the Sasso is dismantled, and the Swiss obtain a promise that it will not be rebuilt.

    Place: Musso Civic History MuseumStory: The Medeghino, lord of the lake