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 stone of the lake'All dates

2dates

Antiquity

To the 5th century · 1 date

  1. 2nd or 3rd century

    The Romans use Musso marble

    The sixteen columns of San Lorenzo in Milan, about seven and a half metres tall and taken from Roman buildings of those centuries, are of white Musso marble. The main quarries were on the spur where the Medeghino's castle later stood.

    Place: MussoStory: The stone of the lake

Middle Ages

6th century to 1449 · 1 date

  1. The comballo, the lake's cargo boat

    The comballo already appears in a document that forbids the boatmen of Lake Como to go into partnership with one another. Twenty to thirty metres long, flat-bottomed and with a single square sail, it carries Moltrasio stone, sand, lime and wood for the kilns.

    Place: ComoStory: The stone of the lake