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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

12dates

Middle Ages

6th century to 1449 · 2 dates

  1. 1118–1127

    The Ten Years' War between Como and Milan

    The Isola Comacina and the lake's parish districts side with Milan against Como, and the lake becomes a battlefield. In 1124 the people of Como occupy and burn the island, but Milan wins the war: in August 1127 Como is taken and has to accept the demolition of the town, its churches excepted.

    Place: Isola ComacinaStory: The fall of the Isola Comacina

  2. Como razes the Isola Comacina

    Strong again with Frederick Barbarossa on its side, Como destroys the island down to its foundations and scatters its stones in the lake so that it cannot be rebuilt. The islanders flee to Varenna, where the quarter that takes them in is called Insula nova, the new island; in 1175 a decree of Barbarossa confirms the ban on rebuilding.

    Place: Isola ComacinaStory: The fall of the Isola Comacina

    Ruins on the Isola Comacina on a hazy summer day: in the foreground low walls of stacked flat stones, slabs and stones scattered on the ground among the grass; on the right a tree with a leaning trunk and a slope of dry grass, on the left trees and bushes; beyond, the pale blue lake and the steep wooded mountain of the opposite shore, with a village strung along the water at its foot, and in the distance another peak in the haze.

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

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.

Twentieth century

1900–1999 · 5 dates

  1. The fort at Colico is armed

    On the Montecchio hill, where the roads coming down from the Splügen, Maloja, Bernina, Stelvio and Tonale passes meet, the fort is ready, with four 149-millimetre guns under revolving steel domes. The guns have stayed where they were.

    Place: Forte Montecchio NordStory: The Cadorna Line on the Lario

    The fort's four steel domes seen from above, in a row on a concrete roof divided into squares: a gun barrel sticks out of each, and above them runs a strip of earth and dry grass closed by a wall.

  2. The fortified line on the northern border

    Warned of a possible German invasion of Switzerland, Luigi Cadorna orders a fortified line from the Ossola valleys to the passes of the Orobie. In the province of Como it runs from Monte Bisbino to the Crocetta above Menaggio, with trenches, tunnels and gun positions that will never see a battle.

    Place: La CrocettaStory: The Cadorna Line on the Lario

    The Alpini chapel at the Crocetta, with the lake and the mountains behind.

  3. To Switzerland along the smugglers' paths

    After the armistice many disbanded soldiers cross the San Jorio pass above Gravedona to seek refuge in Switzerland. Refugees use the smugglers' paths too: during the war Ticino and the Mesolcina take in about twenty-six thousand soldiers and twelve thousand civilians, but many are turned back.

    Place: Gravedona ed UnitiStory: The smugglers' lake

  4. Partisans stop Mussolini at Dongo

    On the upper lake, partisans of the 52nd Garibaldi Brigade stop a German column heading for Switzerland and recognise Benito Mussolini among its passengers. After his capture they take him to Palazzo Manzi in Dongo, which houses the Museum of the End of the War.

    Place: Museum of the End of the WarStory: The Cadorna Line on the Lario

    The neoclassical front of Palazzo Manzi, Dongo's town hall, with the museum entrance.

  5. The fort at Colico fires its only shots in war

    The German column that had handed Mussolini over to the partisans at Dongo is stopped at Colico under the threat of the Montecchio guns, which fire five rounds, none on target. The next day, at the Isolabella hotel, the Germans sign their surrender.

    Place: Forte Montecchio NordStory: The Cadorna Line on the Lario