The Lecco of The Betrothed

In the first chapter of The Betrothed, Alessandro Manzoni describes real places around Lecco: the branch of the lake that turns south, the bridge where the lake ends and the Adda begins again, the Resegone, whose many peaks in a row make it look like a saw, and the town with its castle and Spanish garrison. In the fourth chapter he names Pescarenico, a cluster of fishermen's houses on the left bank of the Adda, with Fra Cristoforo's convent. Manzoni knew these places well: he spent his childhood in the family villa at Caleotto, which he sold in 1818. In town, the Manzoni route takes two or three hours on foot, the museum included. It starts at Villa Manzoni, goes down into the centre to the Torre Viscontea and the monument in Piazza Manzoni, reaches the Azzone Visconti bridge and ends at Pescarenico. A few steps from here, in the novel, Lucia sets off by boat and bids farewell to her mountains.

1. 01You arrive by train: Lecco is about forty minutes from Milano Centrale, and Villa Manzoni, on Via Don Guanella at Caleotto, is a quarter of an hour's walk from the station.
2. 02On the villa's ground floor, the Museo Manzoniano tells of the writer's family, thought and works through furniture, paintings, prints, documents, photographs and books of the period. In the courtyard stands the chapel of the Assunta, finished in 1777, where Pietro Manzoni, Alessandro's father, is buried. The museum is indoors.
3. 03On Piazza XX Settembre, the fourteenth-century Torre Viscontea is the only surviving part of the castle that houses the Spanish garrison in the novel. Nearby, in Piazza Manzoni, Francesco Confalonieri's bronze of 1891 shows the writer seated with the manuscript of The Betrothed on his knees. On the base are carved Lucia's abduction, Don Rodrigo's death and the wedding.
4. 04From the centre, follow the lungolario south to the Azzone Visconti bridge, built between 1336 and 1338. It is the bridge of the first chapter, and from it you see Pescarenico with the Resegone behind.
5. 05In Pescarenico a boulder recalls the “Addio, monti”, the farewell to the mountains, and lucie, the lake's rowing boats, lie moored on the shore. On Piazza Padre Cristoforo stands the church of Santi Materno e Lucia: it was the church of the Capuchin convent where Manzoni places Fra Cristoforo.
6. 06With more time, go up to Acquate and Olate, the quarters where tradition places the village of Renzo and Lucia, or out to Vercurago, five kilometres away, to the castle that tradition links to the Innominato.

WhereLecco · Malgrate