The Como Companion

Como’s Christmas Spirits

Posted on December 6, 2024 by comocompanion

Como Città dei Balocchi 2024 – Polar bears sing and cavort on the walls of the Teatro Sociale

The lake and territory of Como seem increasingly to be lending themselves to commercial ‘branding’ with a number of products trading on some perceived local quality. The product range extends beyond football (Como 1907) and clothing (e.g. Breva e Tivan Republik) to include a selection of alcoholic drinks. These are ripe to be tried out over the holiday period and we will take a closer look at them later. But firstly let’s look at the city of Como itself and how it is projecting a Christmas spirit.

Como’s Spirit of Christmas

Basilica di San Fedele

Over the last two years Como has suffered a commercially disappointing winter holiday season. The main cause for this was the lack of illuminations normally organised by ‘Città dei Balocchi’ (City of Toys) – a consortium of local trading interests. Back in 2022 they decided to break with a long established tradition by not bidding for the contract to provide the city’s Spirit of Christmas. Rumours suggested this was due to disagreements with the city’s newly appointed mayor, Alessandro Rapinese. Como’s loss was Cernobbio’s gain with Città dei Balocchi and their illuminations camping out in the park of Cernobbio’s Villa Erba over the last two years. The neighbouring provincial capital of Lecco took advantage of this absence, boosting its winter appeal by lighting up the city while Como remained dark and drab.

But all is well this year as Città dei Balocchi are back with all the favourite seasonal ingredients including ice skating in Piazza Cavour, the Christmas market, the traditional carousel, and of course, the illuminations. This year there is even a musical accompaniment for those strolling the main shopping street with Perry Como and other crooners singing how Como is ‘beginning to look a lot like Christmas’.

The Broleto in Piazza Duomo

The last full year that Città dei Balocchi adorned the city was in 2019, prior to the two years when Covid closed down everything. And compared with then, this year’s show is more restrained. This may be just as well since success in 2019 brought its own problems. The streets in the old town became so full that the city council had to instigate a one way system for pedestrians and place controls on the numbers allowed into Piazza Duomo. And truth be told, the illuminations had become a bit too Disneylike for the cultural sensibilities of many residents.

The Museo Civico in Piazza Medaglie D’Oro

Back to now, the traditional carousel has moved location again starting off in Piazza Volta back in 2019, then beside the Teatro Sociale last year and now this year placed in the shadow of the austere edifice of Porta Torre. The Christmas market is contained within the piazza that fronts onto the old Banca D’Italia. Thankfully the ice skating rink has returned from last year’s exile on the far edge of the lake gardens to its preferred location in Piazza Cavour.

The carousel below the Porta Torre

Como Whisky, Gin and Other Spirits

The talking and singing trees in the gardens of Villa Erba Christmas 2023.

Moving on from Como’s spirit of Christmas to its Christmas spirits, there are now a few liquors that trade on their close association with Como and the lake. One of these is Tivan Whisky, named after the lake wind that blows south from the Valtellina in the morning, heralding good weather. It is a 100% barley single malt that comes in two varieties – Sera aged in acacia casks and Lago aged in oak beer barrels. Their advertising copy on http://tivanwhisky is in the hyperbolic style that seems a standard feature of all of the publicity for our selected products, as in:

“When a gentle breeze descends from the majestic peaks of Valtellina and caresses the timelessly beautiful landscapes of Lake Como, TIVAN is born.”

Absolute nonsense but it’s the price at over €100 a bottle that is most likely to put you off. If still undeterred Tivan can be bought at Soldati – the large wine store in Tavernerio on the south-eastern edge of Como,

Rivo Foraged Gin and Rivo Sloe Gin

Rivo gin is ‘Lake Como’s magic in a bottle’ so it must share some of the qualities that gave birth to Tivan. However it is more realistically priced and its flavour is actually influenced by the herbs foraged from the hillsides bordering the lake. They too can reach hyperbolic peaks in their publicity as in:

“The mountains, the wind, the water. We distilled the essence of Lake Como to create a gin worthy of this very special place.”

But they can at least be forgiven some purple passages because; a) they really do include herbs foraged from the hillside to flavour the distillation, b) the price is in line with other artisan gins at about €35 and c) I can vouch that it tastes good. It has also won a number of accolades in global trade competitions. It is readily available in many of the local wine stores in Como, including at Gustosè on Via Rusconi.

Rivo also produce an ‘amaro’ (bitters) that breaks free from their gin’s local associations to include twenty different herbs collected from the twenty different regions of Italy. Hence its name ‘Venti’.

Gustosè on Via Rusconi stock local products including Rivo Gin and Amaro Seta as well as selling various liquors from the barrel

There is a Como-inspired amaro liquor called Seta (Silk) so called because its main ingredient is mulberries. The silk cocoons were produced by caterpillars chomping away on mulberry leaves. Mulberry trees used to be everywhere when Como still spun and weaved silk. It is still an important local industry (equivalent in value to tourism) but spinning and weaving are done elsewhere leaving Como firms to specialise in silk printing and finishing.

Amaro Seta with its silk foulard, inspired by Como’s historical local industry

Amaro Seta can also be trusted to indulge in extraordinary flights of fantasy in its publicity material as in:

“Amaro Seta is a story that celebrates the uniqueness of a territory. A story in which ancient popular traditions merge with the most prestigious industrial legacies. The memory of a landscape enriched by centuries-old mulberry trees and the scent of their precious fruits….. The unmistakable soul of Amaro Seta lives in the skilful processing of mulberries, a tree sacred to the Como silk industry, whose leaves constitute the silkworm’s only nourishment. When the soft and delicate taste of this precious fruit meets the clear and firm notes of saffron and bitter orange, a unique bitter with a refined flavor is born. The balanced and elegant tones of Amaro Seta escape any attempt at classification: sweet but not excessive, decisive but not overbearing, Amaro Seta is the amaro that goes over the top.”

Amaro Seta can also be bought at Gustosè alongside many other local products.

Nero di Como finishes off our range of local liquors uniting honey from around our lake with liquorice from Calabria and rum from the Caribbean. This results in a dark, thick and sweet concoction whose origins are colourfully explained as follows:

The anonymous bon viveur sampling his concoction

‘The history of Nero di Como is intertwined between bright nocturnal parties and the discovery of a surprising recipe, the result of the union of the sweet flavors of the lake and the aromas of unknown exotic spices. It all began with the curiosity and intuition of an entrepreneur from Como who made his fortune at the time of great trade with overseas colonies. He was a world traveler always looking for fine products, such as coffee, tea, spices, cocoa and sugar, to offer to his prestigious customers. When he returned from travels he reopened the halls of his villa on Lake Como to his friends and every evening he gave life to sumptuous receptions that lasted all night, with music and laughter that echoed in the large villa until dawn. The host loved sharing with his guests the new flavors and distant aromas he discovered.”

It’s a pity that this mysterious entrepreneur and his sumptuous villa remain unidentified since he seemed the very embodiment of ‘Lake Como lifestyle’. Never mind, presumably the suggestion is that we can also participate in this lifestyle by sipping nonchalantly on a glass of the black stuff as dawn breaks over the lake.

Conclusion

The Christmas light show, ice rink, market and all associated activities run up until January 6th. Most of the liquors can be purchased online in addition to where else is mentioned.

Click on the following to link to their website: Tivan, Rivo Gin, Amaro Seta, Nero di Como.

Como Companion wishes all readers and subscribers a wonderful, relaxing holiday season with a chance for all to enjoy the company of friends and family and to eat and drink in excellent company.

Como’s Hidden Gems – Palazzo Rusca, Palazzo Olginati Rovelli and Palazzo Vietti Rovelli

Posted on November 20, 2024 by comocompanion

Courtyard of the Palazzo Rusca in Via Rusconi

The Como branch of the Fondo per l’Ambiente Italiano (better known as FAI) has been very active this year in giving the public occasional access to some of Como’s many hidden gems. Recently, under the general title of ‘Segrete Stanze’ (Secret Rooms) we have been able to visit three sites each with rooms decorated with important frescoes commissioned by their aristocratic owners in the 17th century. They are the so-called Sala Bianchi in Palazzo Rusca on Via Rusconi and rooms within the two adjacent palazzi on the north side of Piazza Volta, namely Palazzo Olginati Rovelli and Palazzo Vietti Rovelli. Out of a generous sense of public duty, the FAI were given permission to open up these rooms by their current institutional owners.

Fresco in the Basilica San Fedele, Como depicting the Madonna with San Sebastiano on her right and San Rocco on her left. The general population,in the 17th century suffering from famine, poverty and the threat of plague would pray to San Sebastiano to protect them from the plague, and to San Rocco for those already infected to cure them from the plague.

The significant frescoes in all three of these sites were commissioned in the 17th century when Como was under the domination of the Spanish. It was a time of intense insecurity initiated by the threat of Protestantism spreading down the Valtellina from the Swiss cantons. Once neutralised, the Spanish still had to contend with ongoing wars against the French which were mirrored in a variety of local proxy conflicts. The general population became increasingly impoverished by the high levels of taxation imposed to finance the wars. This in turn caused famine and reduced resistance to waves of plague that swept down from the north. The poor were the most susceptible to plague lacking the funds to maintain the nutrition or hygiene needed as defence.

Palazzo Vietti Rovelli at No. 54 Piazza Volta on the left and Palazzo Olginati Rovelli at No. 56 on the right. Both buildings were owned by the Olginati family during the 17th century.

But this was also the era of the Baroque – an explosion of artistic expression revolutionising the interior and exterior decoration of both civil and religious buildings. As the local historian Ettore Maria Peron has stated ‘ the more the people suffered from famine and plague, the more the rich who governed them decorated their palaces with gold and art as a way to display their power.’ And our three palazzi were occupied by those in power.

Palazzo Rusca and the Sala Bianchi

Pope Innocenzo XI – Benedetto Odescalchi. The Sala Bianchi in Palazzo Rusca celebrates his election as Pope

Palazzo Rusca in Via Rusconi 27 is one of the city’s finest examples of an aristocratic residence. The Rusca family occupied the site from 1514 until it passed into the hands of the Marquis Innocenzo Odescalchi in 1786. The Ruscas were one of the most influential and significant families on the local military, civil and religious scene.

On the first floor of the palace, to the left on climbing the monumental staircase, is the main reception room of the palace known as the Sala Bianchi due to the large fresco painted over the entire vaulted ceiling by the Como painter Pietro Bianchi, nicknamed Il Bustino (since his family was originally from Busto Arsizio).

The subject of the fresco is the Exaltation of the Pontificate of Pope Innocent XI (Benedetto Odescalchi) and is dated as being painted in the last decade of the seventeenth century. Bianchi was active as a painter from around 1680 until he died in 1725. He worked for the Odescalchi family contributing decorations to the Odescalchi residences in Via Rodari, Como and Fino Mornasco. His work can also be seen in the Palazzo Imbonati in Cavallasca.

The central image of the bare-breasted woman representing the Church and Faith holding up the papal cross.

The fact that the Palazzo Rusca contains a fresco celebrating the Odescalchi shows how the Ruscas had very close political and family links with the Pope’s family. Four of the Rusca brothers had profited from gaining powerful political positions over the second half of the seventeenth century thanks to the patronage of the Odescalchi. The brother who is the most likely to have commissioned the work by Pietro Bianchi was Antonio Rusca who became one of the most powerful of the aristocratic class governing Como society. He became the Cavalry Captain of the Ferrara Legion, an administrator of the Sant’Anna Hospital, a decurion (a title derived from Latin for a cavalry officer with the contemporary meaning of a city council leader) from 1674 and the prefect overseeing the building of Como Cathedral from 1689.

The fresco itself is made up of two parts with a central representation of twenty two figures painted against a background of a cloudy sky in pastel tones and a painted balustrade running along the entire perimeter, embellished with plants, bronze statues, festoons, medallions and heraldic coats of arms.

Detail of the figure of Church and Faith holding up the Papal Cross with putti delivering the Papal Crown

The main image in the centre of the ceiling represents the Church and Faith personified in the form of a bare-breasted woman in a blue robe and starry mantle. She is placed on a cloud holding a three-armed papal cross and receiving the pontifical tiara from two flying cherubs. At her feet there is a celestial globe and two naked bearded men crowned with laurel. The one on the right holds a stone tablet as a symbol of Law and Justice and a cornucopia. The one on the left also holds a cornucopia which is overflowing with gold coins as a symbol of Innocence.

North west corner balustrade with medallion depicting Hercules defeating the Nemean lion.

Along the painted balustrade, the monochrome coat of arms of the Rusca family dominates the four sides, namely a crowned eagle with spread wings, a leopard lion flanked by six butcher’s broom leaves, all on oblique red and silver bands.

The four corners each have a circular monochrome medallion surrounded by cherubs, eagles and lions, and surmounted by shells with busts of male figures. The medallion in the north east corner represents the Torment of Prometheus – an eagle gnawing at the liver of the giant who dared to steal fire from the gods. The north west has Hercules defeating the Nemean Lion. The medallion in the south west corner is slightly damaged but portrays Perseus freeing Andromeda. The south-east medallion shows a scene that has not been identified in which a warrior faces a gryphon with his shield in hand.

Palazzo Vietti Rovelli

Palazzo Vietti Olginati, the Water Room fresco attributed to Pietro Bianchi

This palazzo is on the north side of Piazza Volta, at number 54, alongside its sister building – the Palazzo Olginati Rovelli at number 56 and on the corner of Via Cairoli. The relatively plain and modest exteriors of both buildings bely the beauty of the decoration to be found inside. The frescoed rooms on the first floor of both buildings are true hidden gems. Both buildings were owned by the Olginati family throughout the 17th century when the main frescoes were commissioned.

The aristocratic Olginati family held positions of power within Como’s ruling city council (the decurional body) since as early as 1449. Twelve family members came to hold that position by 1796. Dr. Alessandro Olginati (1575-1656) was in possession of the Palazzo Vietti Rovelli from at least 1641. He was a jurist who was voted onto the city council as decurion in 1645. The properties were passed on to his son, Giambattista (1619-1704) who was the authorised head (procurer) of the ancient Sant’Anna Hospital and who was also elected a decurion on the city’s governing council in 1664. Either father or son would have commissioned the frescoes still visible and in good condition today.

The Olginati family in the 17th century

The frescoed rooms in both buildings are all on the first floor. The artwork in one room of Number 54 (Vietti Rovelli) is attributed to Pietro Bianchi – the same artist responsible for the Sala Bianchi in the Palazzo Rusca. The art in the second room and in the decorated corridor is attributed to Francesco Torchio, an architect by training. These attributions have been made by Prof. Tiziano Ramagnano (FAI representative for Como) on the basis of stylistic similarities with other works in and around Como.

The Water Room

This is the room overlooking Piazza Volta with the frescoed frieze attributed by Tiziano Ramagnano to Pietro Bianchi, active between around 1680 and March 1725 (the year of his death) in Como, the Valtellina, Chiavenna and Canton Ticino. The frieze consists of four frames made up of architectural structures and cherubs in various poses. Within each frame there are four scenes all depicting marine themes. Starting from the south wall facing on to the piazza, Neptune is depicted commanding two white horses. On the west wall there is Neptune’s wife, Amphitrite, being pulled on a shell-shaped chariot by a sea monster. On the north wall Jupiter is escorted by an eagle reaching out to his daughter Venus travelling on the back of a sea monster. The east wall shows Arion escorted by Cupid and lying on a dolphin.

Arion escorted by Cupid

The Hall of Telemons

The frescoed frieze in this room has been attributed to Francesco Torchio who also decorated the palace’s corridor. It boasts a richly decorated ceiling crossed by a massive beam which seems to be supported by a pair of chained bronze Atlas figures or Telemons (supporters). They are kneeling on leftover plinths, while a bag of sand realistically dampens the load on their exhausted shoulders. The frieze, starting from the two Telamons, develops symmetrically with views of contemporary sixteenth-seventeenth century wine-coloured buildings, similar in colour and thick hatching to those in Palazzo Odescalchi on Via Rodari.

One of the Telemons kneeling on a broken plinth and seemingly supporting the central beam to the ceiling

At the end of each festoon hangs a medallion, also in bronze, with faces of men crowned with laurels. In the squares near the four corners – in the centre of eight fake golden grates, all leaves and spirals, – the emblems of the Olginati coat of arms stand out alternately: two lion’s branches crossed to form a St. Andrew’s cross and a single-headed eagle with spread wings.

Architectural scene in the frescoed frieze in the corridor.

Palazzo Olginati Rovelli

Palazzo Olginati-Rovelli at Number 56 on the corner with Via Cairoli has the honour of being an asset of the Italian Historic Houses Association (ADSI). This is because Giuseppe Garibaldi spent the night there following his victory over the Austrians in San Fermo on the 27th May 1859. So, in addition to the frescoed reception room – the hall – overlooking Piazza Volta, visitors can also taken in the richly decorated bedroom and antechamber which hosted the general for one night.

The Hall

The frescoed frieze in the hall dates back to the start of the 18th century with decoration in the late-Baroque or Rococo style. The frieze shows one scene on each of the long sides of the room and two scenes in each of the short sides. All scenes are framed by elaborate architectural trompe l’oeil structures embellished with scrolls, ribbons and floral motifs. It was common for separate artists to work on such friezes with one taking responsibility for the architectural framing and another for the figurative depictions.

Dido viewing the departure of Aeneas

It is believed that the artist responsible for the figurative aspects was Salvatore Bianchi who originated from Velate in the Province of Varese. He lived between 1653 and 1727 and was active from 1674 in Turin, Asti, Varese, Bergamo, Novara, Sondrio and Busto Arsizio, as well as in Como.

Starting from the long-sided south wall facing on to Piazza Volta, the scene depicted shows Perseus freeing Andromeda chained to a rock. The two scenes on the short-sided west wall show within the left frame an unidentifiable woman holding a chalice. The right frame depicts Judith with the severed head of Holofernes. The single scene on the north wall has Dido looking out on Aeneas’s departure. The two scenes on the east wall are of Cleopatra bitten by an asp and the death of Lucretia.

Perseus freeing Andromeda chained to a rock

The selection of these scenes is by no means random with all dealing with one or other aspect of female fate. Those on the east wall display suicide deaths of two women from Roman history, Cleopatra in 30 BCE and Lucretia in 509 BCE. The long sides facing north and south have scenes from Greek or Roman mythology with the arrival of one lover (Perseus) and the escape of another (Aeneas). On the short west side there is the unidentifiable subject and Judith from the Bible.

Cleopatra bitten by an asp

Garibaldi’s Bedchamber

The decoration in the antechamber and the actual bedroom – which is little more than an alcove – is contemporary to when Garibaldi spent the night there on the night of the 27th and 28th May 1859. It is very elaborate but cannot be attributable to any particular artist and isn’t in itself as interesting as the historical association of the room. The room overlooks Via Cairoli. Garibaldi spent the night there as the guest of Pietro Rovelli (1817-1889) after the general’s victory over the Austians up the hill in San Fermo. After that victory he descended down into Como with his army, the Cacciatori delle Alpi, following the Valfresca and entering Como at the Porta Sala – now renamed Piazza Cacciatori delle Alpi. He would have entered Piazza Volta along the Contrada di Porta Sala subsequently renamed Via Garibaldi in his honour.

The decorated ceiling to Garibaldi’s antechamber

He arrived in Como at 10.00pm and, having stayed the night in the Palazzo Olginati-Rovelli, left early at 3.00am in the direction of Camerlata. He returned again to Como that same year in December staying on for his marriage to the 18 year old Marchesina Giuseppina Raimondi at Fino Mornasco on 24th January 1860. Following the ceremony , a mere two hours later, Garibaldi received an anonymous note informing him of Giuseppina’s prior relationship with two of his own Garibaldians causing him to seek an immediate annulment of the marriage. It is suggested that Pietro Rovelli was the actual author of the note being himself jealous of Giuseppina’s relation with the general.

Early photograph of Giuseppina Raimondi and Garibaldi

Garibaldi made happier return visits to Como in 1862 to celebrate the third anniversary of his victory at San Fermo and again in 1866 to stay at the Palazzo Olginati in Piazza Medaglie d’Oro to prepare for the Third War of Independence.

Members of the Como International Club in the Water Room on a guided tour of the Palazzo Olginati Rovelli in the company of Prof. Tizziano Ramagnano and the FAI

Acknowledgments

Many thanks are due to the Como branch of FAI and in particular to Prof. Tiziano Ramagnano for gaining access to these three (and other) beautiful sites and to the highly informative commentary provided during the site visits by Tiziano himself. FAI are also to be congratulated for reaching out to the English speaking immigrant community by linking up with the Como International Club in organising particular viewings with bilingual commentary for their members.

More information about the Como branch of FAI is available from https://fondoambiente.it/luoghi/rete-fai/delegazione-fai-di-como

Information about how to join the Como International Club is available from https://www.comointernationalclub.it/

Thanks are also due to the institutions who allowed access to the sites mentioned in this article out of a recognition of their civic duty to share awareness of and access to the cultural heritage for which they are the current custodians. They are the Consiglio Notarile who occupy the Sala Bianchi in Palazzo Rusca, Allianz who occupy the frescoed rooms within the Palazzo Vietti Rovelli and who have also contributed to the restoration of the frescoes within their offices and to Fineco who occupy the frescoed rooms within Palazzo Olgiati Rovelli.

Lake Pusiano, Cypresses and Wallabies

Posted on October 22, 2024 by comocompanion

Lake Pusiano with the village of Pusiano on its northern shore and Mount Resegone in the background.

At the foot of majestic Lake Como a string of much smaller lakes stretches out between Como itself and Lecco – each possessing their own charm. In order from west to east they are Lake Montorfano, Alserio, Pusiano, Segrino, Annone and Garlate. They were all formed as retreating glaciers left morainic deposits that dammed up the streams and rivers descending from the Alps. Such is the case of Lake Pusiano formed by the River Lambro.

Lake Pusiano

The park along the banks of the lake in Bosisio Parini is a popular spot for a weekend passeggiata

Normally the surface of Lake Pusiano is particularly still perhaps due in part to its maximum depth of 27 metres – compared with the 425 metre maximum depth of Lake Como. This gives a perfect surface for the various rowing clubs in the area, including our own Canottieri Lario, to use it as their main base for training and competitive racing. The sense of tranquillity evoked by its calm waters is further emphasised by its contrast with the dramatic backdrop of Mount Resegone behind Lecco. All go to make Lake Pusiano, known as the Pearl of Brianza, a popular location locally for a relaxing weekend passeggiata or for a picnic along its shores.

Isola dei Cipressi

Adding further to the lake’s charm is the small oval-shaped island off its northern shores known as Isola dei Cipressi, so named after the one hundred and thirty monumental cypress trees growing there. Its literal ‘isolation,’ whilst remaining within shouting distance of the mainland, makes the island in some ways comparable to Isola Comacina, at least in terms of its atmosphere if not its scale. Gerolamo Gavazzi, the current owner of the island, identifies precisely what this magical quality is in the opening sentence of the preface to his book dedicated to his island. He states, “Islands have always held a strong fascination. The surrounding water creates a sense of protection for those within their shores, and a sense of adventure for those who view them from afar.”

The oval shaped Isola dei Cipressi with its 130 cypress trees and abundant wildlife.

Unlike Isola Comacina, Lake Pusiano’s island was never the site of full time occupation after the demise of the original Neolithic residents who lived there around twelve thousand years ago. Its changes of ownership from the Middle Ages to today reflect the various changes in the dominant power of the time.

Lake Pusiano, the Pearl of Brianza

From the 14th to the 17th century it was owned by one branch or other of the church. The aristocratic Carpani family, who came to own large tracts of land around Erba, took ownership of the lake and island from 1483 and also set about building the splendid Palazzo Carpani in Pusiano. From the late eighteenth century, the lake, island and palace passed on to the Molo and D’Adda families who owned it until the early 19th century when it was passed on to a series of viceroys representing either the Austrian or French domination of Lombardy. It became the property of the local municipality of Bosisio in 1869 but was sold five years later to the ancestors of the current tenants, Antonio and Egidio Gavazzi – wealthy silk industrialists from the nearby Valmadrera. The state took ownership, as with all internal waters, in the 1920s allowing former owners rights of tenancy as in the case of the Gavazzi family who still retain tenancy of the island to this day.

The main commercial interest of the different owners over the years was in the granting of fishing rights and the obligation by law to guarantee a certain level of supplies of fish to Milan.

Palazzo Carpani in Pusiano – originally built in 1688 by Bartolomeo Carpani and once the summer home of Prince Beauharnais.

The island of course was also a glorious summer retreat but it never offered any truly comfortable overnight accommodation until relatively recently. Perhaps its best known historical occasional resident was Prince Eugene of Beauharnais, the stepson of Napoleon, who served as the French viceroy to Lombardy from 1805 until 1814. He was a young, handsome and heroic military commander renowned for his numerous amorous adventures. He spent much time in the Palazzo Carpani in Pusiano as well as on the island where he had a small one room structure built there for his ‘convenience’.

Prince Eugene of Beauharnais, Duke Leuchtenbergh and Prince of Eichstadt, Napoleon’s stepson and Viceroy of Italy from 1805 to 1814.

Beauharnais’s one room shelter was later extended, and an ice house built within the ground. In 1831 a fish canal was built running the width of the island’s eastern end. This served as a place to deposit caught fish, preserving them alive until required. 1831 also saw a change in fortune for the grand Palazzo Carpani which was then converted into a silk spinning and weaving factory. A general decline began to set in symbolised by the felling of the island’s original set of cypresses that had been planted in the 1770s by the Marquis Giuseppe Antonio Molo.

Looking at the lake and visiting the island today you would not believe that both had reached a sad state of neglect and decline by the 1970s and 80s. The River Lambro and the lake had been allowed to become heavily polluted with domestic and industrial effluent. No-one seemed to care about enforcing the local by-laws governing local planning, fishing or general maintenance of the area. The island had become a dumping ground for waste. All started to improve from 1991 when local laws started to be enforced, controls were placed on abusive building and strict fines imposed on any household or business allowing untreated waste into the waters. The Gavazzi family undertook a massive programme for clearing the island, replanting the trees and returning the environment to its former status as a favoured spot for migrating birds.

Isola dei Cipressi

Fish stocks in the lake have also returned to former levels in terms of overall quantities but the numbers of the favoured quality varieties such as trout and perch have not yet fully recovered.

A Gulp of Cormorants, a Creep of Tortoises and a Troupe of Wallabies

A pair of African Crowned Cranes patrol the island

Isola dei Cipressi is now the permanent home for a pair of African Crowned Cranes who majestically stroll the grounds with their heads held high. They share company with a pair of peacocks and a considerable number (a ‘creep’ to use the appropriate collective noun) of tortoises, some of which are quite sizeable. They are joined by a large flock (a ‘gulp’) of cormorants who nest over the winter months and, as result, lay down a carpet of guano that reinvigorates the gardens. And until relatively recently they were all joined by a ‘troupe’ of wallabies – the diminutive cousins of kangaroos. This troupe was 13 members strong but unfortunately the Italian state had them classified alongside their relatives as dangerous and so they were removed.

In 1991 the zoo in Milan closed and Gerolamo Gavazzi agreed to rehouse their two wallabies on his Isola dei Cipressi. There they flourished so well that numbers grew to thirteen until 30 years later a court order demanded their ‘exile’ to a reservation in the Province of Grosseto in Tuscany.

Wallabies are related to kangaroos but are much smaller and less aggressive.

The order was forcefully contested at every stage but the final decision of the Appeal Court in Rome (the Corte di Cassazione) upheld their eviction. The fate of the wallabies reached the attention of the national media and, with the support of the local newspaper, a petition called upon the Minister of Health to put a stay of execution on their removal. All to no avail since the underlying official concern was the closeness of the troupe to the island’s visitors with the risk they could act as agents in transmitting viruses from wild animals to humans. Essentially the wallabies were victims of the paranoia over virus transmission resulting from Covid and its devastating impact on Italy and worldwide.

Further Information

The days of degradation of the lake, its island and the Palazzo Carpani are long past. One section of the lake covered in reeds is now marked off as a nature reserve, its waters are clean and full of fish. The Palazzo Carpani has received massive investments in recent years from charitable funds to restore it to its glory days during the time of Prince Eugene of Beauharnais. It now houses the municipality, local library and other local institutions. Ville Aperte Brianza open it to the public twice a year. Visitors are also welcome to the Isola dei Cipressi by contacting the Pro Loco Bosisio Parini who organise transport and catering if needed. The rowing clubs still take advantage of its still waters to train their athletes and hold competitions whilst the cormorants thrive by feeding on the lake’s abundant stock of fish.

Gerolamo Gavazzi had this tree house built overlooking the lake for the pleasure of his family

Websites: Bosisio Parini Pro Loco, Isola dei Cipressi, Palazzo Carpani.

Bosisio Pro Loco can be contacted via prolocobosisio@gmail.com

Link here to the other Brianzolan lake featured in Como Companion – Lake Montorfano, which we describe as a glorious spot for wild swimming.

‘Ave Maria a trasbordo’, Giovanni Segantini 1886. Segantini moved from Milan to Pusiano in 1881. One of his best known pictures is this depiction of a lucia loaded with sheep on Lake Pusiano with the village of Bosisio Parini in the background. The painting now hangs in the Segantini Museum, Saint Moritz.

Posted in Gardens, History, Lake, Places of interest, rowing, wildlife | Tagged Brianza, Como, cormorants, Eugene Beauharnais, fish, italy, Lake Pusiano, nature, Palazzo Carpani, Resegone, tortoises, travel, wallabies | Leave a comment

Lake Como and Leonardo’s ‘Mona Lisa’

Posted on October 5, 2024 by comocompanion

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The ‘Mona Lisa’ by Leonardo Da Vinci on display in the Louvre.

The two most renowned artists of the Italian Renaissance are Michelangelo, employed by the Medici of Florence, and Leonardo Da Vinci employed by Ludovico ‘Il Moro’ Sforza, Duke of Milan. During Leonardo’s time in Milan he became well acquainted with the River Adda and the lake and mountains around Lecco. So much so that, on his return to the area in the early 1500’s he decided to set two of his best known paintings amongst the landmarks on Lake Como’s eastern leg. At least this is where many experts now identify the landscape depicted in the background of the ‘Mona Lisa’ and his ‘Virgin of the Rocks‘.

Identifying the geological features which locate the background to the picture in the valley of the River Adda and on the Lecco leg of Lake Como

Back in May this year there was a flurry of publicity around the claims made by an American cultural geologist Ann Pizzorusso stating she had identified the background setting of the Mona Lisa. She identified the background to the picture as depicting Lake Garlate, and the Azzone Visconti Bridge which stands at the northerly end where this lake joins Lake Como at Lecco. Her arguments for making this claim are based on the geological formation of the rocks and mountains surrounding the lake as shown on both the left and right hand sides of the portrait. These are typical karst formations that can be found in soluble limestone mountains such as Mount Resegone, Le Grigne and Monte San Martino in the Province of Lecco.

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Leonarda Da Vinci’s ‘Virgin of the Rocks’ held in the Louvre.

Ann Pizzorusso also places Leonardo’s ‘Virgin of the Rocks’as set amongst the limestone peaks behind Mandello Del Lario. Her analysis was published in her book ‘Tweeting Da Vinci’ published in 2014. Her theory is based on the knowledge that Leonardo did not invent either vegetation or landscape in his works. On this basis she dismisses the version of the Virgin of the Rocks held by the National Gallery in London as a copy of the original held in the Louvre since only the Paris-held version references actual vegetation, typically that to be found in the Lecco area, rather than the fantastical vegetation depicted in the National Gallery version.

Ann Pizzorusso’s flamboyant recent declaration of the setting used in the background to the ‘Mona Lisa’ was reported widely from the USA in the New York Post, to Italy in the Corriere della Sera and in UK’s Guardian and even the Daily Mail – but she was merely giving further weight to similar conclusions arrived at in former years by a series of Italian academics – most notably, Riccardo Magnani. Magnani, now aged 61, is a graduate from the prestigious Università Bocconi in Milan. Although he graduated in finance, he has since become a respected Leonardo expert. He published his theory on the setting of the Mona Lisa back in 2017 claiming that ‘the truth is under the eyes of all capable of looking without any cultural training’. He is categorical in claiming the lake is Lake Garlate with the Azzano Visconti Bridge at its head looking north to the mountain ranges behind Lecco.

Leonardo’s ‘Mona Lisa’ on the left alongside Francesco Melzi’s version entitled ‘ Ritratta di Dama’ on display in Madrid’s Prado Gallery

Magnani’s theory on the setting of the Mona Lisa was further supported by another Leonardo expert, Luca Tomio who presented a very similar analysis in a convention in Milan in October 2018. Tomio claimed that the view in the painting’s background is seen from a vantage point above Vaprio D’Adda. What has helped all three of these experts in determining the Lake Como setting was a comparison of Leonardo’s original with a copy made by his friend and student (and possible lover), Francesco Melzi. Melzi’s version is known as ‘Ritratto di Dama’ and is on display in Madrid’s Prado Gallery. Tomio dates both this and the Leonardo original as being painted between 1511 and 1512 when master and student returned to Lombardy to stay in the Villa Melzi in Vaprio D’Adda. He also believes both works share a similar style of depicting mountains as can be seen in other studies by Leonardo of Mount Resegone and Le Grigne completed in the summer of 1511.

Isabella D’Aragona Sforza

But who is the actual subject of the ‘Mona Lisa’ portrait. In the same way there have been different theories put forward for its setting, there is also debate about who is actually represented with the enigmatic smile. Leonardo’s portrait is better known in Italy as ‘La Gioconda’ because some believe it depicts Lisa Gherardini – the wife of a wealthy Florentine merchant called Francesco Del Giocondo. If the painting really is of Lisa Gherardini, then the Lake Como setting is entirely inappropriate. However an alternative theory is that the portrait depicts Isabella d’Aragona Sforza – the niece of the King of Naples, Ferdinando I d’Aragona and the wife of Il Moro’s son, Gian Galeazzo Maria Sforza. Theirs was a diplomatic marriage intended to secure agreement between the Napolitan Bourbon dynasty and the Dukedom of Milan. Whether the painting was completed around 1503 or 1512, in either case Isabella would have been widowed since Gian Galeazzo died early in 1494, and she would have been either 33 or 42. Further evidence placed in support of the Lake Como theory is the similarity of the Mona Lisa’s hairstyle to the fashions of the day in Lombardy. Photography work carried out in Paris by Pascal Cotte has also revealed twelve pins in the Gioconda’s cap which again was a tradition around Lake Como at the time.

Lucia Mondella, the heroine from Lecco from Alessandro Manzoni’s ‘The Betroved’ (I Promessi Sposi)

Leonardo Da Vinci had moved to Milan in 1483 and worked for Ludovico Sforza until 1499 on many of the civil and military engineering projects sponsored by the Sforzas. He is said to have returned to Lombardy on future occasions as in his stay in Villa Melzi in 1511. The waterway via the River Adda linking Milan to Lake Como was critical for both transporting goods and irrigating the agricultural land in the Pianura Padana. Leonardo designed ferries to cross the river and was involved in studies for improving the river’s overall navigation. These included the Paderno Canal (Naviglio di Paderno) designed to circumvent one of the non navigable sections of the river and also linking the Martesana Canal to the network of canals within Milan itself. He thus knew the area well from Milan up to the Lecco side of Lake Como. His Codice Atlantico makes reference to the mountains around Lecco and to Mandello del Lario in particular. He is believed to have put forward ideas for building a canal to run alongside the River Lambro running out from Lake Pusiano down to Milan. While we may never know for certain who is the subject of Leonardo’s masterpiece or whether it references the landscape of Lake Como or Florence, it remains indisputable that the Adda Valley and Lecco’s mountainous sides of Lake Como are singularly beautiful and a fitting subject for an artistic genius such as Leonardo.

A page from Leonardo’s monumental Codice Atlantico showing notes on improvements to the navigability of the River Adda.

Further Information

More information on the valley of the Adda is available from https://www.ecomuseoaddadileonardo.it/ and https://turismo.parcoaddanord.it/punti_di_interesse/muva-museo-della-valle-delladda/

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Some of the attractions to be found along the cycle path following the banks of the River Adda.

Posted in Art, Culture, History, Itineraries, Lake, People, Uncategorized | Tagged Adda, Art, Azzone Visconti, canals, Como, Garlate, History, Le Grigne, lecco, Leonardo, leonardo-da-vinci, Mandello, milan, mona-lisa, Paris, Resegone, Vaprio D'Adda | Leave a comment

Fatal Accident on Lake Como: The Soldiers’ Story

Posted on September 11, 2024 by comocompanion

Gina Ruberti

In ‘Love, War and Death on Lake Como’ (published January 2023) the Companion described the tragic drowning of Mussolini’s daughter-in-law, Gina Ruberti, on the night of 3rd May 1946. She was in a party of five who had gone out for a boat ride that evening. Only two of them returned alive. Apart from Gina, the party consisted of three British Army officers and the Italian fiancee of one of them. Following further research, in part prompted by some additional information provided by the daughter of one of the victims, I can now give a more accurate and complete account of what happened that evening, focussing more on the fate of the three British Army officers. The additional evidence of what happened that night comes from a military police report compiled soon after the tragedy and in the statements made by the only two survivors and their rescuers.

Setting the Scene

Como’s Mayor addresses the rally celebrating Liberation Day 2018

The German Occupation of Northern Italy officially ended in May 1945. By one year later, the allied army of occupation had managed to establish supervision of the liberated zone bringing to an end the period of extrajudicial killings meted out by some of the partisan bands on fascist sympathisers and Nazi collaborators. Good order was in the hands of the British Town Major No. 62, Major A.T. Gray, R.A. who worked to this end in collaboration with the key local representatives of the Italian State – the Prefect of the Province of Como and the Questore (Police Chief).

The Medloc Story

British Army engineers were working alongside both Italian and German technicians in seeking to repair the industrial and transport infrastructure so badly damaged through allied bombing raids.

Regular members of the British Eighth Army, who had been fighting in Italy since the invasion of Sicily in 1943, were being repatriated back to the United Kingdom. From as early as 25th July 1945, the Army had been able to set up so-called MEDLOC trains running from Milan to Calais via Switzerland to bring the troops home. MEDLOC stood for Middle East Direct Line of Communication. The Milan service ran up to four trains containing a total of 3800 troops a day at its peak. By February 1946, MEDLOC departures from Milan’s Central Station were down to two a day, Services also existed to bring troops stationed across Italy to Milan – these were called MEDLOC Feeders.

Milan May 3rd 1946

It was on the Medloc Feeder train that left Naples for Milan on 3rd May that two British Army Majors made their joint acquaintance for the first time. The elder was Major Poole, 40 years old, serving in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. He was the OC (Officer in Command) of the Medloc feeder. The younger officer in his twenties was Major R. G.Parker. On arriving at Milan, Parker, accompanied by Poole, checked into the Excelsior Gallia Hotel just across from the station on Piazza Duca d’Aosta. He was billeted there to wait further orders as to when he would be repatriated on a MEDLOC train leaving Milan for Calais.

The Excelsior Gallia, Milan. Now part of the Marriott Group.

As previously agreed, Major Parker met up at 13.30 with a good friend of his – Captain T. V. Coffin who served in the Army Recovery Company of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME). Captain Coffin mentioned that he kept a motor launch moored in a boat house on Lake Como and he would be delighted if the two officers would accompany him and his Italian fiancee that evening for a cruise on the lake. Majors Poole and Parker enthusiastically accepted and agreed to meet Captain Coffin again at the hotel at 20.00.

Captain Coffin’s fiancee was the 28 year old Marchioness Isabella De Marchi. They had become engaged six months previously. She had been expecting the boat trip would just be for the two of them and so was surprised, and possibly disappointed, to learn that they would be accompanied by the two British officers previously unknown to her. All four set out from the Excelsior Gallia shortly after 20.00 with Captain Coffin driving the Opel Kadett requisitioned from the Wehrmacht and officially assigned for his and his driver’s use. He had given his driver, Private Gilbert, the evening off.

Torno

The Villa Rocca Bruna, subsequently the Hotel Casta Diva and now known without reference to its history as the Mandarin Oriental.

Captain Coffin’s boat was kept moored in the boat house belonging to the Villa Rocca Bruna in Blevio (subsequently known as the Hotel Casta Diva but now rebranded as the Mandarin Oriental). When the party arrived at the villa, the men attended to refuelling the boat whilst Isabella entered the villa to invite her friend, Gina Ruberti, to join the party. Gina was taken by surprise by the invitation and took some persuading to join Isabella but finally agreed seeing how her friend would welcome additional female company. Captain Coffin was in turn surprised but made no objection to another passenger joining the party.

The Hotel Vapore has a splendid terrace overlooking the lake

Their first stop was at the nearby Hotel Vapore in Torno where they all disembarked and stayed for no more than thirty minutes – time for each of the men to drink a Strega (a fashionable liquor) and for Isabella to drink a vermouth. Gina did not drink anything.

Moltrasio, 21.30

At around 21.30 they decided to cross the lake to Moltrasio and stop off at the Hotel Imperiale. Here the men stood drinking Stregas at the bar while Isabella had a coffee and a cognac and Gina sat drinking tea. There would later be some dispute as to how much the men drank but Isabella would later testify ‘I do not know how much drink the three men had, I am sure none of them were drunk.’

The Hotel Imperiale in Moltrasio

The party did not stay long with the skies darkening and the threat of a storm growing. Having settled the bill following some disagreement with the hotel management, the party set out to return to Blevio. Isabella later reported hearing a grating sound as the boat left the dock. This led to speculation that the hull suffered some damage at this stage but this theory was later discounted.

Lake Como

Lightning strikes at night in Lake Como, as seen from Varenna

Isabella and Gina were sat in the stern of the boat as they made their crossing when both realised their feet were getting wet. Captain Coffin told them to move up from the stern and sit on top of the engine housing at the prow. However the water level continued to rise at an ever faster pace. Major Poole looked around for some utensil to bail out the water but, without anything available, took up Major Parker’s suggestion to use his own shoes. With the engine at that point stalling, Captain Coffin tried to console his two women passengers whilst urging Major Parker to use the oar to try to keep the boat moving forward. However Parker had only managed about six strokes of the oar when there was a cataclysmic roar as the engine fell through a rent in the hull causing the boat to sink rapidly. The two women jumped into the water from the bow. Captain Coffin jumped in from the right hand side with Major Parker jumping from the left. As he surfaced onto the choppy waters, he heard a woman’s voice and swam towards it.

Torno, 23.15

50 year old Enrico Corti was returning home to Via Bensi in Torno when at around 23.15 he heard cries above the sound of the thunderstorm coming from on the lake. He launched a rowing boat with two neighbours, Franco Timoteo and Salvatore Bianchi, and set out in the direction of the cries. After ten minutes, and thanks to a flash of lightning, they saw Isabella De Marchi and rescued her from the water. Just a few minutes later they came across Major Parker seriously weakened by ingesting fuel oil and in a state of total exhaustion. They continued briefly to search for the three remaining members but paused to get the two survivors back to the Hotel Vapore in Torno. They then returned on the lake to resume their search but without any luck.

Major Parker was treated on the spot by a British military doctor and admitted to hospital in Como. He was later transferred to hospital in Milan in very poor shape. He did eventually recover and return to England.

Aftermath

Autumn mist on the lake at Carate. The lake has many varied moods particularly outside of the summer season.

At 11.00am on the following day, Salvatore Bianchi saw the body of a woman floating about three hundred metres off from the Villa Rocca Bruna. He retrieved the body which was brought into the villa to be identified later that day by Guido Ruberti, Gina’s father.

Captain Coffin’s military tunic was recovered from the lake near Blevio on 5th May. Both sleeves were turned inside out as if in a hurried attempt to take off the tunic. All pockets were unbuttoned and empty causing investigators to believe that someone had taken out all valuables before casting the jacket back in the water. Major Parker’s tunic was also found intact with no missing contents. The only other item to be recovered was a War Department duffle coat that had been worn by Isabella.

There was no sign then or since of the bodies of Major Poole and Captain Coffin.

The Accident Investigation

The Military Police investigation published its report on 18th May 1946 having interviewed and taken statements from all witnesses and the two survivors. It did not directly blame any of the party for the accident and also included comments from Isabella that sought to minimise blame on Captain Coffin for allowing the boat to be overloaded and refuting the suggestion that the men had drunk heavily during the trip.

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Contemporary advertising for ‘Strega’ (Italian for witch) – the drink favoured by the British Officers on their night out.

The report did suggest some blame on Captain Coffin for not seeking to get the boat officially requisitioned by the British occupation authorities as was the legal requirement for all boats operating on the lake. If done, the boat would have been submitted to an overall safety check by the local REME workshop. Private Gilbert, Coffin’s driver, testified that Coffin had owned a boat moored in Padova which had undergone a series of repairs to its hull. It was then found that these repairs and some mechanical adjustments had been done the previous February in Padova by German Workshop 938. It had then been transported by road to Lake Como, put on the water and given a four hour test by Hauptmann Wilhelm Trippe from the Padova 938 Workshop. The mechanical adjustments might well have included the fitting of a Ford V8 engine into the boat which was approximately 6 metres long by 1.5 metres broad.

The boat had been moored in the boathouse of the Villa Rocca Bruna from May 1st as witnessed by the caretaker of the villa, Luigi Invernizzi. Luigi was himself a keen boatman with a licence to pilot boats on the lake. He had looked over the boat with interest on its arrival and believed that the motor engine installed was too heavy for the bodywork of the boat. Craftsman Bennett from the local REME workshop claimed the boat was overloaded.

Thus in putting together the likely causes for the tragic sinking, the conclusions were:

The boat was fitted with too heavy an engine.
Multiple repairs had been undertaken to the hull, and the scraping noise reported by Isabella as the party left Moltrasio was most likely the sound of the woodwork beginning to crack.
The boat was overloaded. There were five people on the boat and it was reported that two of the party, Majors Parker and Poole were stout men weighing just over 100 kg. (16 stone).
The surface of the lake was very choppy.
The rescue attempt by Enrico Corti and his colleagues was hampered by the dark and the raging storm.

Major Parker also believed that the engine had fallen through the hull of the boat and that this had caused the rapid acceleration in its sinking.

The ‘Breva’ motor launch built in 1933 by Cantiere Cranchi on Lake Como would have been similar in size and design to the boat owned by Captain Coffin.

Isabella’s claim that ‘none of the men were drunk’ was challenged in the statement from the Assistant Manager of the Hotel Imperiale on duty on the night of the tragedy. He stated that the three officers standing at the bar had each consumed within a relatively short period three double shots of Strega (the 40° liquor). They had then disputed the bill and finally agreed to pay once a ‘sconto’ had reduced it to Lit. 1,000 (the equivalent of 40 euros). While this level of consumption may not have affected the fate of the boat, it may well have hindered the officers’ capacity to survive in the water, firstly by making it more difficult for them to remove their heavy army tunics and secondly to maintain the effort needed to stay afloat. Isabella did in fact report both seeing Major Poole in the water and hearing him cry out, ”I can’t stand this any longer.”

Reference

National Archives Catalogue Number WO 32/22184: Report by Special Investigation Branch, Corps of Military Police, Central Mediterranean Forces. 18th May 1946.

Posted in Events, History, Lake, People, Uncategorized | Tagged blevio, Como, drowning, Excelsior, Gina Ruberti, History, Hotel Vapore, Imperiale, italy, Lake Como, Mandarin Oriental, Medloc, medloc feeder, post war, Roccabruna, tragedy | 3 Comments

Lake Como’s Prizewinning Olive Oil

Posted on August 16, 2024 by comocompanion

Looking down on the farmhouse and cottage of the Azienda Agricola Roveglio above Lenno with Isola Comacina in the background.

Lake Como is one of the most northerly points for olive oil production thanks to the lake’s microclimate. And the highest concentration of olive trees on the lake is in the municipality of Lenno, on the western shores nestled in the bay beyond the Villa Balbianella. And overlooking the town of Lenno at 385 metres above sea level, a small holding of twenty acres has consistently produced an olive oil that has won world class prizes – it is the Azienda Agricola Roveglio.

Some of the prizes and certificates awarded to Roveglio’s olive oil by the New York-based NYIOOC.

Let’s first establish the Azienda’s prize winning credentials: awarded NYIOOC Gold Award in 2018 and 2022, NYIOOC Best in Class in 2019 and Athena Gold in 2021. The NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition, based in New York, describes itself as ‘the largest and most prestigious olive oil quality contest. Its annual list of award winners is the authoritative guide to the world’s best olive oils and the dedicated producers who craft them.’

Another view down from Roveglio with the Abbazia del Acquafredda in the foreground. The grounds of the abbey would also have been an olive orchard but has since become overgrown.

The small Roveglio estate was founded around the farmhouse built in 1802 which passed into the current owner’s family back in the 1880’s. The present family owner is Paul Willan who inherited the farm twenty years ago. His full name reveals his aristocratic Anglo-Italian roots – the Conte Cavaliere Paul Nazzari di Calabiana Willan or, in shortened form, Paul N. di C. Willan. On taking over the management of the farm he set about investing in olive oil production recognising that a small producer like himself can only really gain commercial success by developing a specific niche within the market. Paul’s niche is aimed at true aficionados who appreciate precise differentiation and superior quality. Fortunes are hard to make in this business and Paul’s modest goal is to continue to provide a living for the local couple who live and work on the estate and to increase production sufficiently to cover his investment and break even. He has clearly met with some success in differentiating his oil but the challenges lie in sustaining improved production, as we shall see.

Looking down from Roveglio onto the Balbianello peninsula and the bay of Lenno.

Lake Como was colonised by the Romans from the time of Julius Caesar. They in turn sought to supplement the indigenous Golasecchi and Gallic tribes by bringing in many people from other parts of the empire such as Greeks to build ships for lake transport and farmers to produce olive oil and wine. So olive trees have been established around Lenno and on other towns around the lake for a long time. Many of Paul’s trees are over a hundred years old and the very oldest, affectionately known as ‘Nonna’ (or Grandma), is estimated as being from 700 to 1000 years old. Olive trees die from the centre but produce new shoots from the outer trunk. The girth of an old lady like Nonna can thus grow very broad.

‘Nonna’ is the oldest olive tree on the estate and is said to be between 700 and 1000 years old.

Roveglio’s Market Niche

A small olive producer might just choose to sell on their harvest to a much larger local producer such as Vanini or seek to establish a unique but tiny niche for themselves in what is a very large market. Paul has taken on this latter strategy and, as the prizes confirm, has met with success. Olive oil aficionados, like whisky connoisseurs and similar, look for ever increasing degrees of differentiation going way beyond blend or single malt or, in the case of oil, blend or monovarietal. The variety of Roveglio oil is known as Frantoio which happens to be the most common variety found around Lenno. It is also labelled as oil from a single estate and is yet further differentiated by where it was cultivated on the estate – either from the trees on the lower field – campo basso, or those on the upper field – campo alto, since even the slight elevation difference impacts the microclimate which in turn influences the oil’s flavour.

Some of the younger trees planted by Paul in the Campo Alto. Note the meadow in the foreground rich in wild flowers due to the lack of chemical treatment.

In deciding on how to restock the farm (he has plans to plant an additional 700 trees over the next few years) Paul is applying another degree of differentiation by cloning from his own centuries old stock. Look out for the term ‘plurisecolari’ on labels that identify oil originating from ancient stock.

‘Mama’ is over 300 years old and she is the source for the cloning from ancient stock that is now used for all the saplings now being planted to increase the azienda’s oil production.

The tree known as ‘Mama’, which is itself over 300 years old, is the source for the new generation of clones. The process is managed by a company in Tuscany. It takes five years from seed before the saplings are moved back from Tuscany to be planted on the estate. They then require a further five years before they start to bear fruit. The idea behind returning to ancient varieties is to some extent similar to the way grain producers have been reintroducing ancient strains in a bid to find more natural means of combatting the challenges of disease and climate.

Campo Basso and Campo Alto

The estate’s Campo Basso produces oil with the DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta) accreditation.

Walking around the estate you cannot help notice it is entirely unlike many of the olive groves in Sicily or Puglia in that here the grass and meadow grows high around the trees. This is because there is no need to keep the ground clear since all aspects of cultivation are done by hand. Nor is any use made of artificial pesticides, fertilisers or weed killers. Paul has not gone to the extent of seeking Bio classification in that it makes no commercial sense for his scale of operation but he has got his produce from Campo Basso certified as DOP – Denominazione di Origine Protetta.

DOP is a European Union certification that identifies a high quality Italian product from a known region where the traditions of production are guaranteed. Extra virgin oil from Lake Como must not exceed a maximum total acidity of 0.5% and is usually much lower. It is known for a balance of bitterness and spiciness and a long persistence on the palate and for its easy digestibility.

Roveglio produces ‘Mille Fiori’ flavoured honey from bees gathering pollen from the many wild flowers on the estate.

For the oil from Campo Alto, Paul has decided instead to put its reputation to the test in front of forums such as the NYIOOC World Olive Oil Competition. Dedicated olive oil aficionados take note of prizewinners on these web sites and will seek to acquire a bottle or two. The Campo Alto is where Paul’s best oil is produced. Being just a few metres above Campo Basso it is slightly cooler through the hot summer months. The midday Breva wind also helps to restrain high temperatures and thus prevent too strong a production of oleocanthal which gives more southerly oils their peppery burning aftertaste at the back of the throat – a taste not favoured by all aficionados.

Climate Change

In the list of the Roveglio’s prizes, you may have noted no achievement for 2023. This is because the whole harvest was destroyed by hail storms earlier in the year. The increasing frequency of violent storms around the lake area is just one impact of climate change. The overall annual average rainfall on the lake has not changed but the pattern of precipitation has with an increase in the frequency of strong storms. The runoff from these storms has caused extensive damage to many lakeside towns in recent years including at Laglio and Brienno. But it is when the storms are accompanied by hail that serious damage can be done to agricultural crops. Hail either knocks off the flowers before the fruit is set is or, later in the year, damages those young fruits that have managed to get established. It also has a more insidious affect – by damaging the tender bark on the olive tree’s branches, it creates an open wound that allows for infection by a disease known locally as ‘la rogna’ (mange in English) but more commonly as Olive Knot Disease.

Hail damages the tender bark on the olive tree’s branches which then allows the Olive Knot virus to establish itself.

La Rogna or Olive Knot Disease

Much publicity has been given to a disease that threatened to decimate the olive oil orchards in Southern Italy, Greece and Spain. This viral infection is called Xylella fastidiosa or Xfp for short. It causes a condition called Olive Quick Decline Syndrome (OQDS) and from 2013 to 2022 it threatened to reduce European olive oil production by 95%. It was introduced to the area around Salerno in Puglia back in 2008 by insects arriving on a coffee plant from Costa Rica. It was subsequently spread from tree to tree by insects and by the Spittlebug in particular.

The massive economic threat to the Southern Mediterranean regions posed by Xfp’s impact on olive oil production prompted a coordinated response from the European Union to determine how to tackle it. The disease is now being successfully managed through a common containment strategy combined with good husbandry, use of insecticides to reduce spittlebug eggs and bio fertiliser.

Olive Knot Disease results in the development of cancerous knots around the lesions on damaged branches. The disease’s bacteria live in these knots and can be easily spread from tree to tree unless defensive measures are taken.

But the same success cannot be said for ‘la rogna’. Although now well established in Northern Italy, it has not attracted the same level of investment and attention as Xfp – possibly due to the much smaller scale of production in comparison with the south. It is a microbial infection with the scientific name Pseudomonas Savastanoi. The bacteria enters the tree wherever it finds wounds on the trunk or branches. Such wounds could be caused by pruning, various mechanical activities such as harvesting or by frost. Around Lenno, the major cause for opening up the trees to infection is damage from hail storms.

Once infected, the tree develops growths or knots along the exposed areas of its branches. These knots then tend to reduce the tree’s vigour and can lead to defoliation and dieback. The bacteria pores live in the knots and can very easily be transported from one tree to another by humans or insects.

Antibiotics have been found to be effective against the disease bur are not available within the European Union for plant agriculture and are unlikely to be until there is absolute proof that no trace of antibiotic is passed into the fruits and thus on to human consumption. And so the only available strategy is to seek to manage affected trees and seek to contain spread.

Paul had to root up and destroy sixty of his worst affected trees last year. He also takes all possible measures to ensure pruning tools are disinfected and that those harvesting disinfect their hands before moving from one tree to another. He keeps hoping that more research will come up with other management options, such as the pruning or removal of knots in the dry season when the bacteria are least active. But for now, la rogna represents his greatest but not only challenge.

Further Challenges

Olive Fruit Fly

As all gardeners will recognise, agricultural production is wrought with challenges. The additional challenges faced by Paul on his estate, and for all those other producers in our area, include the threat of insect invasion. Particular problems are caused either by the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Cimice Asiatica) or the Olive Fruit Fly. The stink bug feeds on ripe fruits and so effects their quality. The Olive Fruit Fly’s behaviour is more devastating in that in summer it punctures the surface of the ripe fruit to plant an egg under the surface. This egg then grows into a larva that burrows within the fruit before ejecting itself in autumn to pupate on the ground. An affected fruit is identifiable by the holes made either when the egg is injected into or the larva leaves the fruit. It is critical that such fruits are identified before they go to be milled since they have a very unpleasant bitter taste that contaminates the flavour of the oil if they pass unnoticed. With quality of taste a prime concern, you can be sure that Roveglia’s harvest is carefully examined before it goes for its cold pressing at Vanini’s mill.

Olive Fruit fly numbers are kept down by using pheromones to attract them into insect traps. However, if numbers are relatively low, the use of pheromones becomes counter productive in that they may attract more insects to the area with a certain number of them avoiding capture. The Lombardy Region employs a single expert on olive tree husbandry who visits a couple of times a year to advise on various matters and as to whether it makes sense to use the pheromone treatment for the current season. 2024 is a non-pheromone year.

Tasting the Oil

The view from the Rifugio Boffalora looking over to Monte Galbiga

The yearly production of Roveglio oil is 1200 litres which is shared fifty/fifty between Paul and the tenant farmers working his estate. His target is to reach an annual production of 6,000 litres without, of course, making any sacrifice to quality. He will be adding a further seven hundred trees to the estate over the next few years and so sees this as a realistic target on the assumption that the challenges do not become any greater. The impacts of climate change and the resulting increase in Olive Knot Disease are the most worrying and there is always the threat that a bad hail storm could wipe out a whole year’s production in a single go.

The lakeside restaurant ‘Alle Darsene di Loppia’ in Bellagio

But the success of the enterprise is in the tasting. At present it is not possible to buy Paul’s olive oil either directly from the estate or from any nearby shops. It can however be tasted up at the Rifugio Boffalora directly above the Sacro Monte di Ossuccio. It is also served in the delightful lakeside restaurant at the southern end of the Villa Melzi gardens in Bellagio- the Ristorante Alle Darsene di Loppia.

Staying on the Estate

The estate is also open for visitors to stay in the renovated cottage that sits close to the farmhouse. The holiday rental activity is managed by Paul’s wife, Jeannie, who can be contacted through their website at lake-como-holiday-home.co.uk. Not only does the estate (and the rental house in particular) have outstanding views over Lenno and the lake, it is in the most perfect position to view the annual Sagra di San Giovanni staged on the last saturday of June on Isola Comacina. The Sagra reenacts the 12th century destruction of Isola Comacina by troops from Como in a spectacular firework display. And of course there is always the prizewinning oil to sample and the estate-made cheeses produced by Antonella who works the farm throughout the year alongside her husband. The milk comes from the estate’s own herd of goats and from a neighbouring herd of cows.

Further Information

Both Jeannie and Paul Willan are active members of the congregation of the Anglican Church in Cadenabbia. They are involved in ongoing initiatives to raise funds for the church’s maintenance and restoration which we have described in the following articles: Twenty English Artists on Lake Como and Lake Como’s British Enclave, the Anglican Church and Landscape Art

Posted in Food, Lake, People, Uncategorized | Tagged agriculture, Azienda Agricola, Cheese, Como, Frantoio, Lenno, Olive fruit fly, Olive knot disease, olive oil, rentals, Rogna | Leave a comment

Como’s Olympic Rowers: Past and Present

Posted on July 17, 2024 by comocompanion

image-5-8-768x1024 — Leonardo Bernasconi looking over the cake at a recent event at the historic club house of the Canottieri Lario celebrating the success of three of the club’s athletes and its Technical Director in gaining their places at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

On the 27th July three athletes from Como’s rowing club, Canottieri Lario, and a further three from the neighbouring Canottieri Moltrasio will be leaving for Paris to compete in the 2024 Olympics. The three Comaschi are Aisha Rocek, Giorgia Pelacchi and Jacopo Frigerio. The Moltrasini are Elisa Mondelli, Matteo Della Valle and Davide Comini. They will be accompanied by Stefano Fraquelli, Canottieri Lario’s Technical Director who is the National Italian Rowing Team’s Female Coach – a position he also held at the 2020 Olympics hosted in Tokyo in 2021 (due to Covid).

Aisha Rocek, Stefano Fraquelli and Giorgia Pelacchi

The representation of six athletes and a national coach from neighbouring clubs on Lake Como is a source of great local pride. The six athletes all hold ‘doppio tesseramento’ or double club membership in which they not only belong to the local ‘canottieri’ but also to national teams. Aisha belongs to the Gruppo Sportivo (G.S.) Carabinieri, otherwise known as the Fiamme D’Argento. Giorgia is a member of the G.S. Vigili del Fuoco, aka Fiamme Rosse. Elisa is a member of the G.S. Guardia di Finanza, aka Fiamme Gialle whilst Jacopo, Matteo and Davide belong to the G.S. Polizia di Stato, aka Fiamme Oro.

All the athletes with the exception of Davide are in the rowing eights with Davide rowing in the coxless pairs. Look out for the first elimination round scheduled for the 29th July with the possibility for the losers in that round to retry for the finals on the 1st August. The finals themselves take place on the last day of the games – 3rd August. Let’s hope we see some of our local athletes there!

Leonardo Bernasconi, President of Canottieri Lario and Jacopo Frigerio

This will be the first time at the Olympics for all these athletes except for Aisha Rocek who participated in the Tokyo Games in the coxless pairs. For Elisa Montelli and for her companions from the Canottieri Moltrasio, her participation at the Olympics will be particularly poignant. Her elder brother Filippo was due to row in the Tokyo games but was struck down with bone cancer in 2020 and tragically died the year after.

Filippo Mondelli, brother of Elisa – Filippo died tragically young in 2021. A fund in his honour to finance research into bone cancer has been created called ‘Io Sono Filippo’

Whilst there are a particularly high number of local rowers representing the nation this year, there has been a tradition of consistent participation from Canottieri Lario in each of the Olympics since 1996. One of the Canottieri Lario’s greatest stars, Sara Bertolasi was in the coxless pair at London in 2012 and at Rio di Janeiro in 2018. In fact, her participation in London with Claudia Wurzel represented the first time in Italy for a coxless pair to come out of the same rowing club without the ‘doppio tesseramento’.

Sinigaglia’s Heritage

Of course the greatest hero in the name of the club is that of Giuseppe Sinigaglia, the man who gave his name to the nearby football stadium and who is the subject of various memorials around Como. Sinigaglia joined the Canottieri Lario in 1903 having been expelled from the Ginnastica Comense for ‘ill-discipline’. From 1906 onwards he started winning national and European awards culminating in his greatest success on 4th July 1914 at Henley-on-Thames where, as the first Italian ever to participate, he won the Diamond’s Skulls, deemed to be the equivalent of a world championship title.

Memorial to Giuseppe Sinigaglia on the wall of the Stadio Sinigaglia

As with Filippo Mondelli, Giuseppe Sinigaglia’s life was cut tragically short. He fell in action on 10th August 1916 fighting on the Carso front against the Austrians in the Italian bid to seize Gorizia. He and the futurist architect Antonio Sant’Elia were the two best known citizens of Como to fall during the Great War. They and others are commemorated by the War Memorial designed by Giuseppe Terragni and built within metres of the Canottieri Lario’s clubhouse. This clubhouse and the neighbouring football stadium – the Stadio Sinigaglia – were designed by the rationalist architect Gianni Mantero in 1931 and built with funds partially provided by Giuseppe Sinigaglia’s mother. Giuseppe Sinigaglia has thus come to symbolise both achievement and sacrifice to the people of Como and to the members of the Canottieri Lario. His memory also stands as an inspiration to those six young athletes who will shortly be heading out from the lake to participate in a world class competition in a bid to perform their best for the national team. They have all already achieved so much yet with so much more to achieve before them.

The image of Giuseppe Sinigaglia in front of the athletes practising in the ‘Vasca Voga’ at Como’s Canottieri Lario on Viale Puecher.

Other mentions

Moving on from rowing to track events, look out for Chituru Ali also going to Paris to run in the 100 metres sprint. Chituru was born and brought up in Albate on the southern edge of Como as the child of a Nigerian mother and Ghanaian father. His recent record puts him as the second fastest man in Italy after Marcell Jacobs so he is well worth looking out for. We wish him and all the other Comaschi athletes the best of success and well deserved fame.

World Athletics Indoor Championships Glasgow 24, Chituru Ali (ITA) in 60 m | 1-3 March 2024 | Glasgow (SCO) Emirates Arena | Foto: Francesca Grana/FIDAL

Como’s Nostalgia For…..Wash Houses

Posted on June 23, 2024 by comocompanion

foto exhibition — Exhibitions such as this alongside the restoration of some old wash houses reveal an almost nostalgic interest into a recently lost world

The wash house (Lavatoio in Italian) is a common architectural feature across Italy and no less so in the mountain communities around Lake Como. Technological and social changes have rendered them almost entirely redundant yet many still remain and a significant number have even been renovated and restored.

lavandaie in como — This photo from the early 1900s shows women knelt behind an ‘asse’ used as a scrubbing surface. This was the technique used when washing directly in the lake (in this case in Sant’Agostino, Como)

Doing the laundry was at one time a social act performed in the open alongside and with the help of your neighbours. The local ‘lavatoio’ still holds a strong symbolic value in many villages as a monument to civic pride and as a reaffirmation of civil solidarity. There may also be a nostalgic element amongst more elderly citizens who can look back to a time when their villages were more densely populated with the majority sharing the same rhythm of life dominated by domestic and agricultural chores.

There are about 70 villages around the lake in the Province of Como and each would originally have had an average of four wash houses. Four of them – Argegno, Campione, Colonno and Sala, had none with laundry being done directly in the lake. Some of them have either been removed (as in Brunate, Zelbio, and Gera Lario), or converted into store rooms or shelters as in Livo. Many remain abandoned but a significant number have been restored thanks to the enthusiasm of local ‘pro-loco’ associations and signposted as sites of socio-anthropological interest.

The renovated lavatoio in the Cernobbio district of Olzino with pre-fabricated basins, and the unusual addition of a religious shrine.

Three Vital Functions

Before the provision of mains water and well before the invention of domestic washing machines, village people needed access to water for their own domestic use, for laundry and in addition, for watering their livestock every morning and evening as they were walked to and from their daytime pasture.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — The wash house in Fontebranda, Siena, founded in 1081 and completed construction in 1193.

One of Italy’s earliest and most elaborate wash houses is the Fontebranda in Siena. This is first mentioned in 1081 and was extended in 1193. The three arches represent the three uses made of the water. The first container provided drinking water with the second providing a drinking trough for animals. The third container was used for laundry. The structure has become famous not just for its architectural value but due to its mention in the 30th Book of Dante’s Divine Comedy.

None of the lavatoi in our region match the architectural splendour of Fontebranda but those at Tavordo di Porlezza, Brenzio and Molina are of architectural interest.

Although the needs for drinking water for inhabitants and animals was always a requirement, the need for a communal wash house only emerged once relatively wealthy families became established within the mountain communities. They paid others to wash their linen for them and thus established the role of the washer person – lavandaia (feminine) or lavandaio (masculine). It was often a wealthy patron who provided the funds for building the local lavatoio.

The lavatoio in the Vicolo dei Lavandai in Milan.

Whilst most users of the wash houses were women, this was not exclusively so. For example the use of the lavatoio in the Vicolo dei Lavandai alongside Milan’s Naviglio Grande was reserved to members of the Confraternità Lavandai di Milano. This society was set up in the 18th century with Saint Anthony of Padua as their patron saint and its members were only men. The lavatoio itself is now registered as a national monument forming just one of the hundred wash houses that used to exist alongside Milan’s three major canals – the Grande, Pavese and Martesana. Around the corner from the lavatoio there is a traditional Milanese restaurant called ‘El Brellin’ which is the name in dialect of the wooden structure on which the washers would perch lined up alongside the stone slabs for scrubbing. The restaurant occupies the site of a ‘drogheria’ which used to sell the soap and scrubbing brushes used by the lavandai. The men were only replaced by women during the last war. The wash house became purely ornamental after the 1950s.

The single basin lavatoio in Camnago Volta

The early lavatoi often consisted of a single basin either made from stone slabs or hollowed out from a single stone block. Palanzo has a single stone lavatoio constructed in the 16th century alongside the more complete and fully restored version built in 1852. Other single stone basins can be seen in Dizzasco, Camnago Volta and at the end of Via Valgioera in Garzola below the San Donato Sanctuary.

The lavatoio in Garzola below the San Donato Sanctuary

Apart from these early examples, the great majority of local wash houses were built in the 19th century and most often by the women of the village. It was the custom for most men to emigrate seasonally for work in the various specialist building trades developed around the lake and the Val D’Intelvi. They would be absent from home from April through to the end of October leaving it to the women to tend the animals, wash the linen of their wealthy neighbours and construct the wash houses paid for with the patronage of a rich local.

The plaque marking the restoration of the lavatoio in the district of Olzino in Cernobbio paid for with contributions fom the Fondazione Banca Dei Monti di Lombardia

Granite was a popular stone used to cap the basins and placed at an angle of 45 degrees to aid scrubbing. Apart from around San Fedelino at the top end of the lake, there are no local sources of granite around Lake Como. However use was made of the large number of granite boulders brought down by glaciation from the Valtellina and deposited when the glaciers retreated at the end of the Ice Age. Use was also made of whatever stone was available locally given that at least twenty communities in the Province had mines. White marble came from Musso and black marble from Varenna, and the ubiquitous Moltrasio limestone (used extensively in dry stone walling around the lake) could be found all around the lake, not solely in Moltrasio itself.

After the last war, a great number of wash houses were built. They made use of pre-fabricated concrete units instead of stone and little attention was paid to aesthetic appeal. Concrete was said to provide a better surface for scrubbing and the individual units were more efficient although spartan in appearance. Technology was however beginning to have an impact firstly with the wider distribution of piped water and much later by the increasing numbers of domestic washing machines. Life in the mountain villages was also changing with better road links to the industrial centres encouraging a move off the land and into factories.

The unrestored lavatoio in the Como district of Lora

Village life was going through radical change and the rhythms and customs of the old communal life were being fundamentally altered. No longer was doing the laundry a social act. No longer did the wash house provide a meeting point to share news and comment. No longer in winter did villagers have to dip chapped hands into ice cold water to scrub linen clean. But for many communities, their restored (and unused) lavatoi provide a sentimental monument to both the suffering and the solidarity of the past – to a time when life was hard and there was a need to work together to endure it.

Posted in Architecture, Culture, Folklore, History, Lake, Places of interest, Uncategorized | Tagged cleaning, Como, Food, Lake Como, laundry, lavandaia, lavatoio, nature, nostalgia, travel, wash house | 1 Comment

Como 1907: The Mouse and the Lake

Posted on June 1, 2024 by comocompanion

In May this year ‘Como 1907’ was promoted into the top league of Italian football – Serie A. It was only five years ago when Como was languishing in the bottom league – Serie D, and 21 years ago since the club last managed to be in Serie A. This dramatic change in fortune can be attributed to what the BBC has defined as ‘the most interesting football project in Europe’ – a project inspired by Disney and starring the lake. What is that project and how did it come about?

Como’s Stadio Sinighalia looks out over the lake. It is just one of a number of modernist buildings in the area including the Canottieri Lario and Terragni’s War Memorial designed in honour of Antonio Sant’Eglia and Novocomum.

Since the 2002-2003 season, when Como was last in Serie A, the club has faced a number of vicissitudes and just a few triumphs. In fact it was declared bankrupt the year after leaving Serie A. It faced bankruptcy again in July 2016 when it was put up for sale by auction. However no-one came forward to buy it until the price was dropped for the fourth time in March 2017 when finally it sold for a mere 237.000 euros to Akosua Puni Essien, the wife of the Ghanaian footballer Michael Essien who had played for Chelsea, Milan and Real Madrid. Unfortunately Mrs. Essien did not turn out to be the saviour all were hoping for since the players received no wages after the first three months and bills for the rent and maintenance of the stadium and training grounds went unpaid. Rather than raise the club from Serie C to B. as Mrs. Essien had promised, she failed to secure the payments needed to keep the team within the league. Como Calcio was back being declared bankrupt by June 2017 for the third time this century.

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Mrs Akosua Puni Essien bought the club back in 2017 but unfortunately could not secure funding to cover the club’s running costs.

A group of knights in shining armour then appeared over the Atlantic from Miami in the shape of the Nicastro Group headed by Massimo Nicastro, an ex-Bocconi graduate who migrated over to Miami in the 1990s as an entrepreneur and property developer. His knowledge of Italy, and Como in particular, allied to his sharply honed American-style entrepreneurial instincts led him to see the value of the club ‘as a sort of Via della Spiga of football. Football set in a panorama of beauty, which could act as a driving force for a lot of other things’. And it was perhaps the ‘other things’ rather than the dismal sporting record of the club that persuaded the Indonesian Hartono brothers (said to own assets worth up to 18 billion euros) to buy into Nicastro’s sales pitch. In 2019, with Como 1907 now in the hands of the richest proprietors of Italian football, all was set to launch the sort of project Nicastro must have had in mind.

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Scenes of jubilation both on and off the pitch after the match against Cosenza ended in a draw guaranteeing the club’s promotion into Serie A.

The Project

Como 1907’s logo. The club was established back in 1907 by a group of partners from the Canottieri Lario.

Como 1907 as from 2019 is owned by the London-based company Sent Entertainment which in turn is owned by Global Media Vision Ltd., an Indonesian company belonging to Robert Budi and Michael Hartono. Dennis Wise, former England International, came in as the Sporting CEO and another Indonesian, Mirwan Suwarso, was made responsible for operating the project as a whole without direct responsibility for the sporting side. He has described Sent Entertainment’s business concept for Como 1907 as an experiment linking sport, business and landscape – a sort of ‘boutique’ club within the unique setting of Lake Como where all these three elements are brought together by what might be called the Como ‘brand’.

Suwarso’s challenge in his own words was ‘to transform a football club from a structurally loss-making company to a profitable business. Sustainability cannot exist in football without linking the events of the team to those of the city and the territory.’ But money helps and the Hartonos immediately started investing in both the team, the stadium and the overall business concept. They acquired a sports centre in Mozzate (half way between Como and Varese) for 3 million euros. They returfed the pitch and then set about extending and replacing the stadium’s seating and investing in the VAR technology required for Serie A matches. The organisation of the business was restructured into four divisions: Como Retail – shops and merchandising, Como Property – stadium and training grounds, Como Academy – the youth team and Como Entertainment – organising sponsorship events, fund raising and general celebrations! They have a merchandising outlet in Via Olginati and a more upmarket ‘concept store’ in the iconic Vitrum shop front originally designed by Giuseppe Terragni, on Piazza Duomo. The concept store is currently running an exhibition of works inspired by the lake by the artist Golnaz Jebelli. Her lake artwork was also used by the Indonesian couturier, Didit Hediprasetyo to design Como 1907’s current kit.

Galleria Como is the concept store partnered with Como 1907 and owned by couturier Didit Hediprasetyo

The project can be divided into two main areas, commercial and sporting. The sporting aspect under Dennis Wise has seen constant improvement since the 2018 takeover with the club rising to Serie B for the last three years before promotion to Serie A at the end of this season. It is judged as 40% done. The commercial project is however still only 20% complete in spite of raising revenue from merchandising from a starting point of 90,000 euros per annum before the Hartono take-over to 1.35 million in 2022 and 3.9 million in 2023. Apparently a Como 1907 branded bag is now on sale at Harrods, a result of the club’s partnership with the Milanese bag maker Brics. More prosaically, the club has also partnered with the Piedmont-based mineral water company, San Bernardo and promoted a limited series featuring the artwork of Ester Maria Negretti – a local artist specialising in lake landscapes whom we have featured in a couple of articles over the years.

Ester Negretti is a local artist with a studio on Via BorgoVico. One of her favourite subjects is Lake Como.

The club has also ensured they launch projects of value to the local community and in support of charities such as the opening of a Children’s Community. In their own words:

On and off the pitch, Como 1907 is dedicated to being engaged members of the local community, working with other local enterprises to build prosperity.

We want to be world class in every sense: a world class club playing world class football in a world class setting, surrounded by world class partners, businesses and a world class sense of community.

Ultimately, everyone in Como is connected by our love for the region. Como 1907’s goal is to work to strengthen the bonds between us for the good of the community and all its businesses. That means reaching out way beyond Como to the world, to invite global solutions to our specific challenges and ambitions.

Como 1907 made a

These hyperbolic expressions calling on the club to ‘reach out to the world’ or ‘invite global solutions’ required a revolutionary change to this previously modest provincial club. Key to achieving such a global image was securing international stars such as Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry as shareholders committed to the project and the long term sustainability of the club’s success. Fabregas came on board in 2022 and briefly starred as a player for a single season before taking on the coaching of the youth team, the Primavera. The symbolic importance of Fabregas joining the club was made explicit by one of Italy’s prime sports journalists, Gianluca di Marzio: ‘Fabregas is in Como to become a point of reference for the club, in terms of increasing its professionalism, but not only. For the outside world it is an important signal, a leap in quality for the Como brand.’

Local fans organised in the ‘curva’ to celebrate their team’s promotion.

The Coup D’Etat occurred on 12th November 2023 with the controversial dismissal of the coach Moreno Longo soon after he had secured Como’s away victory against Ascoli. The official announcement stated:

The paths have separated between Como 1907 and Moreno Longo. The search for a new coach begins immediately, with Cesc Fàbregas and the coaching staff taking on the duties on an interim basis.

After several months of strategic planning, the Como 1907 board decided that dynamic change was in the club’s best interest. Longo joined Como in September 2022 and helped the team avoid relegation, finishing in 13th place last season. Cesc Fàbregas, who currently coaches the Primavera del Como 1907, will have his first training session on Wednesday morning.

Mirwan Suwarso, official representative of the ownership group, commented: “We thank Moreno Longo for his hard work and dedication, especially for managing the team after a difficult period last season. However, we want to embark on a new path that we hope will give greater emotions and fun to the Como fans and beyond. We hope to be able to make a new appointment for the coaching role in the near future. We thank the fans for their understanding and unwavering loyalty and support. As always, Forza Como”.

The team’s shirt with the lake-inspired design by Golnaz Jebelli

However Fabregas was without a full coaching licence so could only fulfil the role for a very limited period. It was Thierry Henry as shareholder and consultant who recommended the club secure the services of Osian Roberts, Patrick Vieria’s previous assistant coach at Crystal Palace. While Moreno Longo was maintaining the club’s fortunes midway up the table of Serie B, it was Roberts who, by the end of the same season, had secured the club’s promotion to Serie A. The revolution also brought about some changes and acquisitions of players to suit the style of play favoured by Roberts. But it was Fabregas who provided the metaphysical magic dust – in the words of Suwarso ‘ the change of mentality … a new way of being, he gave us a DNA.’

Suwarso described the Como 1907 project in the following terms in an article in the Gazzetta dello Sport: ‘ Our project takes Disney as it reference: theme parks, films, studios, media and merchandising.’ He outlined the project’s ambitions as “we think we will reach a value of one billion (euros) between sports, media, structures, merchandising and tourism … Today we feel included in the city, we work for the community, we no longer feel like guests”.

The Challenges

Sent Entertainment may still be learning how to conduct business in provincial Italy. The much vaunted extension of the 1000 seats to the stadium remain unusable since their planning application was attached to another stadium improvement – the extension and strengthening of the lighting towers. The modification to the north western tower still awaits approval due to its closeness to the Como Aero Club and the potential risk to low-flying seaplanes. If they had submitted separate plans the additional seating would now be in use. The directors of Sent Entertainment might look at the disastrous project for strengthening the city’s flood defences with some trepidation since this project started in 2008 and has still to be completed. And given the need to make some rapid changes to the stadium, the club must not get ensnared or run any further foul of the city’s numerous planning and building regulations.

The Stadio Sinigallia requires updating and enlargement to cater for the crowds expected to attend Serie A matches. Sent Entertainment are ready to submit their plans for this to the Como Municipality in the near future.

The stadium is perhaps their largest challenge. It is both an asset in terms of its location overlooking the lake and a problem due its inability to house the number of visiting fans expected at Serie A matches. And with a transport infrastructure currently unable to manage tourists, how will these away fans get to and from the stadium without paralysing the city and engaging the entire manpower of the local and state police forces.

Queue for the fast boat to Bellagio

Above all, can Como actually accommodate more visitors? It is already challenged by the number of day visitors attracted to visit the town for a brief excursion on the lake. Serie A matches will attract many more and day visitors bring little economic benefit to the town in contrast to the challenges they bring in terms of the burden on infrastructure and services.

Comaschi are of course delighted by the club’s success this season and no doubt Sent Entertainment’s executives are well received within municipal circles who must be relieved that the days of bankruptcy are over BUT….The Hartono brothers have given Como 1907 a metaphorical heart transplant, a new chance of life, yet, given the alien source of this vital organ, there is the possible risk of rejection. Assuming the club sustains its position in Serie A, the major risk of local rejection may come from the promotion of its brand of tourism.

Sustainable Tourism

Mickey Mouse in Disneyland

Suwarso, as quoted above within his reference to Disney, makes the role of tourism an explicit element in achieving his billion euro profit target. Disney has the Mouse and Como 1907 has the Lake. As additional confirmation of the centrality of landscape to the Como 1907 project, Suwarso, as quoted by journalist Alec Cordolini in his article for Rivista Undici, states ‘I don’t deal with football and I don’t get into football matters, but when they ask me who the most important player in the team is, I always answer the Lake.’ But what sort of tourism will Como 1907 attract and will the financial benefits be shared beyond the club and its commercial partners?

The charm and beauty of Lake Como, from Careno

A key element of Como 1907’s brand is the landscape (i.e. the Lake) and if the Lake is the club’s star player then fundamentally the project is about extracting financial value from our landscape – or, more precisely, from the image of the landscape as it is perceived within the Como brand. In this case, the DNA provided by stars such as Fabregas will serve to globalise and endorse that brand. And the ongoing success on the pitch will ensure ongoing publicity for that brand. Whilst Golnaz Jebelli’s lake-inspired artwork reflects the different moods and subjective impressions of the lake, the lake ‘brand’ is a more one-dimensional image of a rich man’s dramatic but benign playground.

The Lake Como fantasy entrapped within the Como bag.

The Como brand is of course a nebulous concept which we explored in a recent article on the challenges of tourism in our area. It is also a fragile concept that can easily be damaged by its own success, and no way as yet, is it oriented towards sustainability. The definition of sustainability for a football club is very different from the meaning of sustainability for a landscape and a territory.

Conclusion

Getting to the heart of the Como 1907 project is partly about trying to understand some of the forms modern capitalism takes in extracting value from selling dreams. Ticket and merchandising sales might represent the actual point when value is realised but behind those ‘goods’ are the stoked up desires to participate, if only vicariously, in the ‘Como’ appeal, which itself has to be nurtured and promoted as passionately as the football team itself through branding. Como 1907 is indeed an interesting project and I wish the club continuing success. But I also hope that they will treat this success with a sensitivity towards the territory that they are promoting as fervently as their team of players – and consider the sustainability of the environment alongside the sustainability of the team’s success.

Forza Como!

Sources

The main source was an article in the online sport magazine Rivista Undici written by Alec Cordolcini and published on 11th May 2024.

An American in Venice (via Como)

Posted on May 7, 2024 by comocompanion

On April 18th Sonja Christoph and husband Alessandro left Como to travel by train to Venice for the day. This was just one of the many, and one of the shortest of journeys undertaken by Sonja in her moves from her native Florida USA to Como via Heidelberg, Munich and London. But perhaps, for all that, this was one of the more personally significant journeys taken until now – she was delivering her artwork entitled ‘Frames of Reference’ for display in the Venetian Biennale.

Alessandro delivering ‘Frames of Reference’ from Como to the Biennale.

We first interviewed Sonja shortly after her arrival in Como back in 2019 and we wrote up her story to that date in the article Fairy Tales, Wanderlust and Landing in Como which described her work as an artistic illustrator. Her most significant commission up to that point had been the series of illustrations used to decorate the walls of the Michelin starred Chef Kevin Fehling’s 5 star restaurant on board the MS Europa. Her subsequent artistic journey has now led to an equally prestigious achievement with the Venetian based Donà dalle Rose Foundation nominating her work for inclusion within the Republic of Cameroon’s Pavilion at this year’s Venetian Biennale.

Sonja at the Opening Ceremony of the Cameroon Pavilion in the Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, Venice.

The overall theme of this year’s Biennale, defined by the Brazilian Director of Visual Arts Adriano Pedrosa as ‘Stranieri Ovunque’ or ‘Foreigners Everywhere’ chimes perfectly with Sonja’s own history as an intrepid migrant stepping out from her parental home in Florida, USA to settle initially in Germany, then on to England and now to set up her family home just outside Como in Fino Mornasco. Our newsletter loves celebrating the presence of foreigners on the shores of the lake and supporting their appreciation and integration within the fabric of our adopted home. It is therefore particularly pleasing to report and celebrate when any one of our migrant community makes a social or cultural contribution to our host country.

Frames of Reference

‘Frames of Reference’ is the title given to Sonja’s artwork on display at the Palazzo Donà dalle Rose which hosts the Pavilion of the Republic of Cameroon for this 60th edition of the Venetian Biennale. Her work will be on display in the Pavilion for the duration of the Biennale from 20th April until 24th November.

‘Frames of Reference’ by Sonja Christoph, 2024

Sonja herself describes the work as ‘A life story. MY life’s story….sketched out frame by frame in a spiralling journey that moves from city to city, country to country from childhood to adulthood to motherhood through moments of love and loss, joy and grief.’

At its heart is a self-portrait presented without any attempt at flattery with an image seemingly caught in an unguarded moment in a mirror that also reflects a domestic background with an empty armchair behind Sonja’s right shoulder. This self portrait is itself contained within three illustrated frames and an outer frame of dense black.

Detail ‘Frames of Reference’. Bottom right hand corner with the three inner frames.

The inner frames illustrate aspects of Sonja’s life to date combining both real and fantasy elements. Each of the three frames represent a specific phase in Sonja’s life with the inner black background frame representing childhood in Vero Beach, Florida. The middle frame represents migration initially to Germany and then on to London with love, marriage and motherhood. The outer frame represents more recent times on moving to Como and contains a reference towards the top left corner to the creation of the artwork itself.

‘Frames of Reference’ by Sonja Christoph as it is displayed in the Cameroon Pavilion at Palazzo Donà dalle Rose.

Those already familiar with Sonja’s work will recognise this piece as a continuation of her development as a visual storyteller. But with the significant difference that this time she herself is the subject of the story. For her, the story, or anyone’s story, starts with an absence of light which is why the outer frame is painted using a particularly dense black paint that absorbs hardly any light. From there inwards the picaresque episodes vary in shades of light or dark. As she describes it: ‘A story can only begin with the absence of light. Frames of Reference’ is a spiralling journey that invites viewers inward on an adventure that plays out in shades of light and dark, joy and grief, love and loss…’ And at the heart of the piece is that haunting self-portrait which, like most self-portraits, is primarily about mood and emotion with the backstory to that mood represented by the empty armchair symbolising family loss.

It is often said that we all have a story to tell and Sonja’s storytelling in ‘Frames of Reference’ reinforces that truism. But there is something in this piece’s structure that gives it a universal quality, not necessarily due to the content since each of our stories are individual. Instead its power comes from reflection – a stark mirror image of a significant moment framed within a complex narrative of life. And it encourages us as viewers to take on, if only momentarily, a mirror-like moment for our own self reflection – how did we get here and where are we going. This reaction may be particularly strong in others such as Sonja who are migrants, strangers in a foreign land. For me, that almost imperceptible reflective reaction is what marks this as a successful work of art and why it has rightly earned its place within the Cameroon Pavilion of the Biennale.

The Journey to the Biennale

Sonja’s journey to the Biennale started the moment she set out for Europe from Vero Beach, Florida. The family trip to Venice on 18th April to present her picture and to attend the public opening event at the Palazzo Donà Dalle Rose does however mark a significant milestone in her maturing as a woman and as an artist, It takes thought and courage before committing to the production and public showing of a self-portrait, not least one accompanied by so much autobiographical detail.

Cameroon Pavilion Invite, Biennale 2024

The commissioner and curators of the Cameroon Pavilion at the Biennale (Serge Achille Ndouma,Sandro Orlandi Stagl and Paul Emmanuel Loga Mahop) have added to the overall exhibition theme of ‘Strangers Everywhere’ by giving the Cameroon Pavilion the title of NEMO PROPHETA IN PATRIA – No-one is a prophet in their own land’. They thus opened up consideration of the positive effects produced by an intellectually active diaspora of citizens able to achieve more by migrating elsewhere. To quote from its own press release the Cameroon Pavilion ‘presents itself as the “Pavilion of Wonders”, where projects by local and international artists come together to celebrate the courage of those who have never abandoned their ideas, regardless of the recognition obtained locally, ambitiously looking towards a deserved international horizon. A Pavilion where differences are considered wealth and where no one feels like a “stranger”.’

Sonja’s ‘Frames of Reference’ fits so well within this brief with her migrant’s story and her courage to tell it.

02_Hako-Hankson_Days-of-celebration_Acrylic-and-Indian-Ink-on-canvas-200-x-200-cm_Courtesy-of-the-artist-Primo-Marella-Gallery-copia-1

Cameroonian artist Hako Hankson’s work at the Pavilion, ‘Days of Celebration’. Acrylic and Indian Ink on canvas 200 x 200cm. Courtesy of the artist Primo Marella Gallery

Sonja’s Journey Beyond the Biennale

Exposing your life story to public scrutiny and criticism and its presentation as self-portrait is a courageous act, and one that represents a significant step in maturity for an artist such as Sonja. It is natural that this watershed in her artistic development did not happen without moments of fear and self-doubt.

She has commented on both the rational and irrational fears felt in anticipation of the opening of the exhibition – fear of sharing intimate aspects of her life, fear of how the work will be received and fear of being judged as an essentially self-taught artist against the backdrop of so many talented professionals displaying at the Biennale.

‘Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus’, J W Waterhouse

But the success of ‘Frames of Reference’ goes to show that Sonja has developed a valid structure for combining portraiture with storytelling. The most interesting portraits are those which have to some degree or other an implicit story behind the image. Sonja’s own favourite artist J W Waterhouse – a late Victorian English artist – followed in the Pre-Raphaelite tradition of either illustrating known legends or imbibing their works with symbols that, once interpreted, provided a narrative to accompany the image. Sonja is doing the same in a way that is her own and in a style that reflects her interest in fable and fantasy.

Visual storytelling, episodic illustration and graphical framing – as in these 14th century frescoes decorating the apse of Como’s Basilica di Sant Abbondio.

She intends now to work further on this winning formula. I was given a preview of some framed portraits in progress of characters Sonja has come to know and admire in and around Como. I look forward to when these too will be put on display to the general public.

In The Meantime

Sonja Christoph and the other members of Canottieri Lario’s Vogalonga crew – Venice 2023.

Sonja will soon be returning to Venice once again on the 18th May but this time to participate as a member of Como’s rowing club – the Canottieri Lario – as a member of the team participating in the Vogalonga. The route of this 30 km non-competitive race takes in a grand part of the Venetian lagoon. It starts in the San Marco Basin, then on to the passage in front of the islands of Sant’Elena, delle Vignole, Sant’ Erasmo and San Francesco del Deserto, to arrive at Burano and then, skirting the islands of Mazzorbo, Madonna del Monte and San Giacomo in Paludo, to Murano, crossing its ‘Grand Canal’, and finally returning to Venice, where, passing through the Cannaregio canal and the Grand Canal it reaches the finish line, located at Punta della Dogana in front of San Marco. All this must be completed within six hours – truly invigorating but equally exhausting! In addition to Sonja’s contribution to the Biennale, her involvement with Canottieri Lario’s entry in the Vogalunga goes to show her level of integration and commitment to her adopted country and home on Lake Como.

Every Migrant Tells A Story

Foreigners are everywhere and migrant stories may possibly be richer if not necessarily more significant than everyone else’s life story. We don’t all get to tell our story or find the means like Sonja to give it a form of universal relevance. Some of the poorest migrants, who undoubtedly have the most difficult and significant stories to tell, are more often deprived of a voice and of ready means to integrate meaningfully and profitably within their host countries. But, as the Biennale proclaims, migrants are everywhere and we would all profit by listening to their stories and valuing their real and potential contribution to the social, cultural and economic life in their adopted countries.

Further Information

Sonja’s website: https://www.sonjaillustrates.com/ and Facebook page

Biennale dates: From April 20th 2024 until November 24th 2024

Address of the Palazzo Donà dalle Rose: Cannaregio, 5101, 30121 Venezia VE

Sonja and Alessandro at the Pavilion’s Opening Ceremony held in the Palazzo Donà dalle Rose

Posted in Art, Culture, Events, People, Uncategorized | Tagged Art, Biennale, Cameroon, Como, Culture, illustration, migrants, storytelling, Venice | Leave a comment

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