Bellagio on lake Como
Bellagio is Lario’s central headland cape of Lario, by far one of the most beautiful tourist places, not only of lake Como, but of the entire world. Its beauty has been praised, since the 16th century, by Italian and foreign visitors. Bellagio’s charm is first and foremost panoramic, because from here is embraced with a glance, the better part of Lario. Add to that the splendid villas, the profuse lushness of the trees and flowers, the picturesque staircases, the variety of walks and paths, and you can understand how Bellagio merits the title the Pearl of Lake Como.
Bellagio was already inhabited back in the prehistoric age, a fortified village during the Middle Ages, free city during the ten year war, sided against Como, it was possessed by the Visconti and then by Marchesino Stanga and the Sfondrati. Of a Romanesque foundation is the Parrocchiale di San Giacomo (St. James Parish), interior to which are the renowned works: “Deposizione di Gesù”, by il Perugino, “Madonna delle Grazie” by Vincenzo Foppa and a Romanesque crucifix. Water transportation is very organized with the battelli (ferry boats) for reaching the towns along the opposite shores of the lake.
Bellagio is an optimal starting point for various promenades along the lake Como shore, as well as for the paths which connect the villages of Suira, Visgnola, Vergonese and Pescallo. On of the most noted destinations is the Parco del Monte San Primo (Mt. San Primo Park) which is around 14 km from Bellagio, nearby is Ghisallo where we find the Santuario (Sanctuary) and the Museo del ciclismo (Cycling Museum). Many are Bellagio’s villas (besides Villa Melzi and Villa Serbelloni) which are worth mentioning: Villa Giulia, the Taverna-Trivulzio-Gerli (1700) with its very antique Romanesque church St. Maria di Loppia (St. Mary of Loppia), the Trotti-Gerli (1751), the Buttafava-Marchesini and the Belmonte.
Lierna – Lecco branch
Lierna rises from Lake Como’s eastern shore between Mandello del Lario and Varenna. Most likely of a Celtic origin, it takes its name from the Roman Hibernia (winter camps of the Roman legions). The town of Lierna is formed of 11 villages spread across a territory which runs from the lake shore to the Grigne mountains. The hillside villages display the typical medieval structure, with narrow alleyways and houses built one on top of the other.
In the village of Castello, ancient medieval village that has remained unchanged in time, we find the Romanesque Church of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, which holds inside interesting frescoes from the 1500s, and relic of S. Maurice which each year is carried in the procession celebrating the Patron Saint on the evening of September 22. To the south, in Olcio there is a quarry of the beautiful black marble that was also used in the construction of Como’s Duomo.
The villas of Lierna are amazing. We remind you of Villa Pini rebuilt by Achille Pini in 1921 in the place of a farmhouse built in the middle of the 1800s by Tomaso Panizza, the villa was recently restored, and is not divided into apartments. We find in the vast park surrounding Villa Pini, a source of ferruginous water, and some beautiful magnolia, palm and pine trees. Villa Besana or Aurelia built beginning in 1920 in a rectangular plan with the front facing the lake, where some liberty and eclectic elements can be seen. The villa is surrounded by a vast park, and two stone docks rise along the lake shores.
Lierna is affirming itself ever more as a tourist site, the quiet and beauty of this land makes it a very esteemed vacation spot, we’d like to point out the Riva Bianca – one the Lake Como’s most beautiful beaches.
Mandello Lario – Branch of Lecco
Mandello del Lario resting on the waters of Lago di Lecco, placed on a peninsula almost in front of Onno, is dominated from behind by the walls and the towers of the Grigna. Mandello Lario is a tourist place with a optimal climate, lavish with walks and climbs of every length and difficulty. Its origins date back at least to the Gallo-Roman Age, but Mandello’s might asserted itself in the Middle Ages when it formed an alliance with Como during the war against Milan. Milan got the better of it, and in 1160. Mandello del Lario was half-destroyed, then yielded to the Visconti, in the end passed to the Sfondrati until 1788, its silks woven by Mandello’s artisan shops were renowned throughout the centuries.
Since 1921 Mandello has been the headquarters of Moto Guzzi (Guzzi Motorcycle), one of the most prestigious Italian motorcycle makers, in the territory there are other historical industrial and artesian brands. In the centre of the village is the ERCOLE CARCANO Public Library where the homonymous foundation has created a small museum. From Mandello del Lario you can easily reach i piani dei Resinelli (Resinelli Plateaus), passing through the villages of Tonzanico and Maggiana, where there is still today an ancient tower, famous for having housed Barbarossa (Fredrick I) in 1158, when he conquered the town.
A visit the Santuario della Madonna del fiume (Our Lady of the River Sanctuary) is also recommended, the true jewel of the Lombard late-Baroque era, its interior embellished with stuccoes, gildings, frescoes and canvasses painted by Giacomo Antoni Santagostino. Frescoes of notable interest from the late 1400s and early 1500s, are inside the church of S. Giorgio and that of Saint Zenone, in the village of Tonzanico.
Abbadia Lariana – Lecco branch
Abbadia Lariana is a few kilometers away from Lecco, it stands on a promontory formed by the delta of the river Zerbo, behind the Plan of Resinelli and the summit of the Southern Grigna. The town is made up of the hamlets of Linzanico, Borbino, Novegolo and Crebbio, the name Abbadia dates back to the presence of an ancient Benedictine abbey built in the ninth century.
Some findings of Gallo-Roman times testify the antiquity of the settlements in this area. During the medieval period the town was fortified, you can still see the remains of a tower called the Torraccia. The country was allied with Como during the ten year war (1118-1127), in 1330 it became a fief of the Visconti family of Milan, in 1629 suffered atrocities and looting by Landsknecht, followed by the French and Austrian domination, the years of the Risorgimento and the liberation in 1859.
Today Abbadia Lariana is a quiet and sunny tourist center, the mild climate and excellent tourist offer make it one of the most popular Lake Como destinations. In this area you can make many excursions and trips: in the hamlet of Linzanico starts the trail that in about three hours of walking gets to Resinelli Flatland, the trail of the Wayfarer starts at Borbino, an ancient trail that connected Lecco to Colico.
Among the historic buildings we would like to mention the ancient church of San Lorenzo, with fine paintings and frescoes by Luigi Tagliaferri; in the hamlet of Borbino we find the church of Our Lady of the Snows, built in 1695. Interesting to visit is the Silk Museum, built in antique Monti silk mill , you can visit the rooms and see the equipment that accompanied the work cycle of the silk. There is eleven meters high wringer, built on four working floors, still working perfectly.
Lecco – Branch of Lecco
Lecco is panoramically the most beautiful town on Lake Como. Here the Adda river leaves the Lario, forming the Garlate Lake; all-around it a large circle of rocky, bizarre-shaped mountains: the Resegone, Due Mani, St. Martino and on the other side of the lake, the Moregallo. The tourist, sport and mountaineering importance of Lecco is of notable importance (the ragni di Lecco – Lecco spiders are famous, enhanced by excellent ski lifts).
Inhabited in the prehistoric age, a fortified village, and then a Roman municipal, important village in the Middle Ages, a free Municipality in the 12th century, therefore enemy to Como during the ten year war, Lecco then passed under the yoke of Della Torre and the Visconti. Proverbial is the laboriousness of the people of Lecco, in the Middle Ages in the working of the cocoons and the spinning of silk, nowadays in the iron-and-steel and metallurgic industry, Lecco today places itself among Lombardy’s most active centres.
The historical centre, almost void of architectonic monuments, is characterized by a dignified nineteenth-century building trade, for the most part modelled by the interventions in neo-classical key of Giuseppe Bovara, a minor student of Luigi Cagnola. Lecco’s most illustrious son is certainly Antonio Stoppani (1824-1891), natural sciences scholar, but Lecco’s fame is connected above all to Alexander Manzoni who, as a child, lived in the 18th-century villa of Caleotto (today the Manzoni Museum), and here was inspired when writing many pages of his book I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), and to whom the town has dedicated a statue by Francesco Confalonieri; the monument was inaugurated on October 11, 1891 in the presence of Giosuè Carducci who, for the occasion pronounced the discorso di Lecco (Lecco speech) which served to debunk the poet’s aversion for the great novelist. Do not forget to make a trip to Valsassina and the Piano dei Resinelli, among the Dolomite peaks of the Grigne a very charming place.