The Como Companion

Escaping the Holocaust: Hiding from Home in Varese

Posted on January 29, 2025 by comocompanion

This article describes first hand testimony of life as an Italian Jew following Mussolini’s return to power on the occupation of Northern and Central Italy by the Nazis. It is Como Companion’s contribution to honouring the 80th Anniversary of the Red Army’s liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on 27th January 1945,

Alessandro’s place of refuge was Villa Pavia in Induno Olona which had Varese’s Sacro Monte and Campo dei Fiori in the background.

Our protagonist was Alessandro De Daninos, a wealthy financier based in Milan and employed as a director of the RAS Insurance company. He was married to Teresa whose full name was Thèrese Thieron de Monclin and was not of Jewish heritage. They had two children defined as mixed race and brought up in the Catholic faith named Ruggero and Iolanda. A previous daughter, Maria Pia, had died in childhood. In 1942 Alessandro (aged 65 at the time) and his family left their home in Milan to avoid the dangers of allied bombing and rented part of a property in Cernobbio – a town that was becoming overcrowded with other so-called ‘sfollati’ (refugees) from Milan.

Alessandro’s grandfather, also called Alessandro, had co-founded the RAS insurance company in Trieste in 1838.

Alessandro De Daninos could not have been more integrated into Italian society, even claiming the title of Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown granted in perpetuity to his grandfather in February 1880 who was the co-founder and later, director of the Trieste-based insurance company – RAS (Riunione Adriatica di Sicurtà). RAS now forms part of the Allianz group.

Heraldic crest of the De Daninos family,

Alessandro started his diary in January 1942 at the moment when the family was establishing itself in the rented property in Cernobbio. Early entries reveal how Alessandro was concerned to get his children officially classified as non-Jewish on the strength of his mixed marriage and the children’s adherence to the catholic religion. For this he consulted various lawyers expert in the ‘definition of race’ and in the interpretation of the fascist laws introduced in 1938. Many of the other entries in 1942 refer to his bids to establish some new insurance companies designed to become part of the RAS group, as well as references to his social contacts within the world of theatre and cinema. In other words, he was having to deal with the complexity of the racist laws introduced by Mussolini but was not at this stage unduly concerned about the future of his family beyond the common need to move out of Milan to avoid the danger of allied bombing.

We pick up a selection of his entries from October 1942, when the family had already moved to rented accommodation in Cernobbio.

18th October, 1942

It has been like a spring day. I left the house without a coat. Iolanda went for the first time to play football with her friend, Ada Fargion.

NOTE: The Fargions were a Jewish family who owned a large villa in Cernobbio. The father, Eugenio, worked as an engineer for Aeroplani Caproni, an industry critical to the fascist war effort. His work took him often into Switzerland – this access was to prove a lifesaver for him and his immediate family in a year’s time following the Nazi occupation.

11th November, 1942

Gradually we have transported our entire wardrobe and everything possible to Cernobbio: it is a difficult undertaking but one suggested by prudence. Cernobbio has been repopulated as it was last September and fortunately the days are delightful, sunny and mild so as not to create the pressing and problematic need for heating. The alarms these days are continuous and if not worrying, they paralyze life and block all activity. At Villa d’Este – reopened regularly with restaurant service – there are a number of friends: the Guida, the Greco, the Scola.

NOTE: Alessandro at this stage faced no limitation on his ability to work or to be recompensed for it in spite of the Racial Laws of 1938. He was probably able to apply for a dispensation from the fascist Ministry of the Interior who, at this stage, allowed for the definition of so-called ‘discriminati’ – those Italian Jews granted an exception from the Racial laws on grounds such as previous military or state service. The De Daninos family were in a privileged position due to wealth and social contacts, enabling them to request and be granted this exception.

11th January 1943

Despite my predictions, it was good not to have enrolled Ruggero at the Como Institute because the director’s naivety was too evident: in fact the young Beppi Fargion who had been accepted with reservation at the scientific high school recently abandoned his application since it was rejected by the Ministry of Education. We will see the profit of private lessons!

NOTE: Children of Jewish parentage were forbidden to attend state schools under the 1938 legislation. Alessandro was clearly concerned about providing some solution for his children’s education. He cites the example of Beppi Fargion, the son of Eugenio Fargion, the owner of the Villa Fargion in Cernobbio. As mentioned, Eugenio Fargion worked for the company Aeroplani Caproni with factories in Milan and Switzerland. He, his wife Alma and children, Mario (aka Beppe) and Annamaria, (aka Ada), escaped Italy in September 1943 and were housed in Switzerland by Giovanni Battista Caproni himself. Eugenio’s villa in Cernobbio was immediately sequestered by the German SS and known from that time as the Villa Carminati. This villa became an administrative headquarters and detention centre for the Border Police under Josef Voetterl. Eugenio’s sister and husband were guests at the Villa Fargion in the summer of 1943 and Eugenio had implored them to join him in escaping to Switzerland. They were not as convinced of the dangers under the recently established Nazi occupation (September 1943) and so returned to their home in Ferrara. They were subsequently arrested, placed in the same convoy as Primo Levi to Auschwitz and were both executed immediately on their arrival there on the 26th February 1944.

Villa Fargion now known as Villa Carminati

Back in January 1943, prior to the Nazi occupation, it would have been hard to have foreseen the future full fanatical vindictiveness of the Nazifascist regime.

3rd August 1943

(Following the fall of Mussolini on July 25th but before the Nazi occupation in September) Some friends and collaborators wanted to show their sympathy by sending me verbal and written wishes and wishes for the reoccupation of my position as director: such as Cav. Damioli, Mr. Palmiotta, Miss Isabella Mancini, the magistrate Mazzufferi etc. I believe that these are early wishes because the racial laws exist in full for now although a certain tolerance is observed in the newspapers with the resumption of references to Jewish people and with the publication of obituaries of Jewish people.

NOTE: This brief period from July 25th (the fall of Mussolini and the establishment of the Badoglio government) to September 8th (publication of the Italian Armistice) had been one of relief that the war appeared over and the forces of fascism defeated. This initial euphoria soon dissipated following the Nazi occupation. The Badoglio government were slow to repeal the 1938 Racial Laws because they did not want to appear to the Nazis as anti-German before they had secured a peace agreement with the allies. The Nazis were not fooled for a moment over the loyalty of their previous ally and used this period to prepare for a full-scale occupation of Italy. Even after the Nazi occupation, the official Italian government only revoked the racial laws as late as January 1944, completing the process later in June. In contrast the allies had repealed all racial laws within the liberated zone in a decree passed in Palermo on 12th July 1943.

Using stereotypical caricature, this Nazifascist poster summarises the restrictions imposed by Mussolini’s 1938 Race Laws.

25th September 1943

An entire month of anxieties, fears and worries has passed, the progressive spread of the German occupation and the continuous spreading of catastrophic rumors of kidnappings, murders and attackers has shocked all minds and exasperated souls. Unfortunately the situation worsened after the shameful collapse of the army which caused many soldiers to flee clandestinely up the mountains to which many Jews were added, in turn scared and fearful of being caught and even shot. This fate was reserved for my old friend Tullio Masserani arrested in his villa in Stresa together with his sister Olga, I don’t know under what charge.

For a month I have been in doubt about what action to take while still thinking that having always lived correctly and conscientiously, I wouldn’t know why I should be beaten or imprisoned just because of race. On the other hand, the cycle of my life is over and since my loved ones, being Catholic from birth, should be immune from any racial revenge, for now I don’t feel like abandoning them in a situation that I would certainly consider difficult for them…. If adverse fate wants to strike me, I have so much faith and stoicism to face it with serene tranquility and painful calm, because the thought of an uncorrupted conscience would support me! Escaping abroad, facing an uncertain future, lasting a month or a year without secure financial support and leaving my family abandoned, would be more painful for me than the sacrifice of my life.

NOTE: Alessandro had perhaps never been a practicing Jew by faith and, like many others, had sought to get his children defined as catholic with the assistance of the clergy as a means of protecting them from discrimination. However we have already noted how this was insufficient in protecting Ruggero from school exclusion.

22nd November, 1943

I’m back from the old Bidino! (His parental home in the Villa Pavia in Indono Olona in the Province of Varese) To hide from possible German searches on two occasions, I spent a fortnight at the Bidino where Marcella’s (his maternal aunt) generous hospitality welcomed me and granted me a peaceful stay with every comfort. After many years once again I traveled through the places of my peaceful childhood, the ancient Sancassano which was the patient creation of my poor mother…. Will I go back?

NOTE: Having decided he would not seek refuge in Switzerland, he decided to spend time at his old parental home in Induno Olona. He had declared he was of Jewish heritage in the Census of 1938 and, whilst regretting his honesty at that point, recognised that the nazifascists would be seeking him out in Cernobbio. Why? Because Alessandro, in a decree passed on 18th November 1943, was classified an enemy of the state to face immediate incarceration in a concentration camp. The Mussolini government issued a bulletin on the 30th November to all police forces confirming that “All Jews, including those previously exempt, of whatever nationality, must immediately be detained in concentration camps. All their goods, property and furniture, are to be seized awaiting confiscation by the state. All those born from mixed marriages who may previously have been considered Aryan are to be placed under police surveillance.”

From the start of the Nazi occupation, many Jews alongside antifascists, disbanded members of the Royal Army and escaped prisoners of war had attempted to flee into Switzerland. Overall 6,000 Jews found refuge in Switzerland between 1943 and 1945. Of these 3,800 were Italian and 1,700 were either foreign or stateless migrants who had previously sought refuge in Italy from persecution elsewhere in Nazi occupied Europe. However not all Jews seeking safety in Switzerland were accepted until their right to asylum to avoid racial persecution was finally granted in 1944. Those turned back at the border faced immediate arrest and deportation to Nazi labour and extermination camps.

The main crossing from Como into Switzerland was at Ponte Chiasso.

4th January, 1944

Today marks one month since my stay in this delightful Bidino (Villa Pavia) due to Marcella’s immeasurable hospitality and where I took refuge in this very sad moment of my life, in which it seems that my entire short future of existence is fading away due to the wickedness of men! I am here at the Bidino in the refuge of our distant childhood, where the love of our poor grandfather Arnoldo, the subsequent affectionate care of my uncle Angelo in those last years of his widowhood, the sacred fire of conservation on the part of Marcella have created a paradise of memories and of tranquility! I have the only torturous pain of being far from my loved ones, from Teresa to whom I have handed over the responsibility of all our common interests for which she provides with diligence and meticulous care: from my adored children who fortunately do not yet know how to evaluate the terrible unknown that overlooks their future life and which is an unfortunate thorn in my heart and a source of remorse for a possible – but honest – inadvertence! (He is referring to his honest declaration of his ethnicity in the 1938 Census). So far, my refusal to leave Italy to meet my dark destiny in Switzerland hasn’t done me much harm: God wish it would be the same later: even my voluntary removal from Cernobbio and from my beloved loved ones has so far yielded no fruit, as no one has come looking for me either in Milan or in Cernobbio and the much feared arrest in a camp concentration has not yet come true: but for how long?

NOTE: From September 1943 the Nazis in the area around Como had as their principal objective an obsessive and pathological search for Jews. Their search was assisted by the paramilitary organisations of the Mussolini state and its local administration who willingly handed over to the German Command the lists of Jews maintained by the local authorities.

A letter from Joseph Voetterl to the Prefect of the Province of Como confirming the latter’s right to proceed with the sequester of property and goods belonging to Giuseppe and Guglielmo Levi following their arrest and imprisonment in Milan for the crime of being Jewish. Josef Voetterl occupied the Villa Carminati sequestered from Eugenio Fargion.

Even the smallest hint of humanity shown by the fascist state in initially excluding those over 70 from arrest and deportation was extinguished by the SS Commander of North Western Italy, Walter Rauff. He insisted on the arrest of even those over 70, the ill, those of mixed race or of anyone previously considered aryan due to religious conversion. Walter Rauff was himself arrested by the Americans on 30th April 1945 in Milan’s Hotel Regina. However he subsequently escaped detention and used the Odessa organisation to flee to South America. He managed to avoid extradition to face trial for war crimes and died in Chile in 1984.

Walter Rauff, SS Commander of North West Italy, fled to Chile where attempts to extradite him to face trial for war crimes failed.

18th April, 1944

I have been here in Cernobbio again for a few days, among my loved ones, in the continuity of this life of fears and uncertainties which constitute a real torture, aggravated by Teresa’s anxieties due to the immediate and threatening behavior of the old owner of the villa who at every moment, encouraged by her friends and from the lady-in-waiting Artali, threatens to send us away. Yesterday for the first time in many months I went to Milan, leaving home – like a criminal – at six in the morning and returning in the dark following the Cernobbio-Como route on foot. On the way by train I only met Boffre with whom I exchanged a few gentle words. In Milan I only met Reiser who I greeted. I took two flowers to the cemetery, accepted a call to the Finance Authority for the property tax and after breakfast I paid a visit to the new parish priest of the Church of S. Trinità, whose parish house was so damaged by the incursion of August ’43: his name is Don Natale Brunella and is a very nice and intelligent prelate who understands the unfortunate situation of these tragic hours and that I hope will be able to help me in complying with a good work. Here in Cernobbio on April 24th my friend Nuti came to visit me and bring me a bundle of news about Minerva, Italica and Reunion. (Various Insurance companies that Alessandro had been spending time in 1942 seeking to establish.) Tomorrow morning, very promptly, April 29th, I will take the train to Varese once again: I will redo my exile to get away from Cernobbio where too many acquaintances could betray my inappropriate presence! I spent 15 cold days, because frankly the temperature wasn’t kind to me. I had the comfort of my children but the continuous segregation in this august dining room was not pleasant to me: and all this so as not to show myself to our housewife “witch” on whose head sufficient curses will never fall.

NOTE: Whenever Alessandro returned to Cernobbio he could only occupy the dining room of their lodgings so that the landlady would not be aware of his presence. He was certain that she would have denounced his presence to the nazifascist authorities if she became aware that he was there.

9th May, 1944

The days pass in the constant anxieties of my desolate friend and in the constant thought of my children and my Teresa far away and of their doubtful future! If only I would have put everything I own in Teresa’s name and I would have saved my entire fortune! I torture myself and reproach myself for this act of lack of foresight in me, despite having provided for so many things in this unfortunate period of war! On the alphabetical list of the Jews of Milan that the kindness of my friend Nuti gave me to view, I do not seem to find some names of friends and acquaintances who have thus avoided all the sad consequences of this publication. I wonder how it was and how much I regret not having also avoided reporting myself in conflict with the provisions of the law, which, not followed by others, have been their fortune because they were never prosecuted or punished! May we be assisted by the confidence that at least this 1944 is the last year of tribulation and that the defeat of the Germans still gives our souls that much desired and dreamed of peace!

NOTE: Here Alessandro regrets his previous honesty in declaring his Jewish heritage on the 1938 Census.

Como in the foreground and Cernobbio on the left hand side of the lake

1st June, 1943

I left the Bidino again – my hospitable hideout – to return to Cernobbio with my loved ones! This journey is both anguish and a great joy for me! Anguish, because I feel the fearful tremor of Teresa who fears the masked wickedness of the “witch” capable of revealing my presence: joy of spending a few hours with my children and seeing that quiet serenity in them – especially now, after having passed exams, which I am unable to find in myself, even in these days in which everyone’s hearts are agitated and boiling in feverish anticipation of the Anglo-American entry into Rome. But when, how will it happen? Unfortunately, my pessimism does not abandon me and the length of this winter war, which has already spread six months beyond the common and familiar predictions, seems annexed and revocable to me, frightened before my eyes!

Alessandro’s last entry in his diary was dated 5th September 1944 and followed a raid on the Villa Pavia in Induno Olona by fascist army officers. It is assumed they were following up on a denunciation made by an acquaintance or a visitor to the family of the presence of Alessandro. However he was not there at the time of the raid. His diary was seized and handed over to the Prefect of Varese and so came to be stored in Varese’s Archivio di Stato.

We do not know what happened to Alessandro after 5th September 1944. He does not appear in the database of those who escaped to Switzerland. His death is recorded as being in 1953 or 1954 at the age of 76 or 77. One way or another he and his children were survivors in spite of his honesty in declaring his Jewish heritage back in that fateful census of 1938. Many others of his acquaintance such as members of the Foa, Morpurgo and Fargion families were less fortunate.

Acknowledgments

This article is based on extracts from “Un inedito memoriale di un ebreo milanese rifugiato ad Induno Olona durante la II Guerra Mondiale”, introduced and edited by Paolo Pietrosanti and available in PDF format from academia.edu

Saint Barbara at Como

Posted on December 17, 2024 by comocompanion

Saint Barbara shown with the Castello Baradello in the distance behind her left shoulder and the Porta Torre on her right. By an unknown Lombardy artist dated 1945.

Saint Barbara is one of those early female victims of the Catholic and Orthodox churches who owe their martyrdom to the initial resistance of Byzantium to the spread of Christianity. She is said to have been born in 273 CE in Nicomedia (now known as Izmit) close to Constantinople and known as Barbara because she was in Roman terms a ‘barbarian’, simply meaning a non-Roman. The legends of her origin and history are varied and confusing and this has detracted from her official status as a saint within the Catholic Church. But this has done nothing to reduce the cult associated with her name or the fact that she is still remembered in Como beyond 1945 to the present day.

The Saint Barbara Story

Saint_Barbara._Etching._Wellcome_V0031659

An etching made of the unfinished image of Saint Barbara by Jan van Eyck, 1437. It shows her in front of the tower being built by her father to imprison her to keep her away from unwanted suitors. Note the three windows requested by Barbara as a symbol of her devotion to Christianity.

The legend goes that Barbara’s father, Dioscorus, had planned for her to marry the prefect of Nicomedia but she refused. Her father, livid with anger at his daughter’s intransigence, had her arrested and sentenced to death for adopting Christianity. Her response was to break up all the pagan effigies in her father’s house and escape to the forest. However she was caught and imprisoned in the fortress of Nicomedia. The fortress subsequently caught fire yet Barbara stepped out of the flames uninjured. Her trial was set for December 2nd, 290CE where she called on her father and all those present to turn away from paganism – a call that resulted in torture and execution on December 4th. Her own father wielded the sword that beheaded his daughter but he in turn was immediately struck dead by a bolt of lightning.

From out of this legend, the cult developed whereby Barbara was called upon in defence against lightning, fire and sudden death. Her fortitude and resistance to her father’s demands in the face of torture was perceived as the saintly embodiment of the faith and courage to face danger. She was particularly called upon for protection against fire, cannons and explosives. To this day, the Italian army’s name for an armoury is a ‘Santa Barbara’. Just as the Venetian fleet in the Middle Ages flew pennants with the image of Saint Barbara as protection against the explosion of their onboard munitions, so the modern Italian navy also refer to an onboard munition store as a ‘Santa Barbara’.

Naval standard of the Venetian navy with Saint Barbara.

Barbara’s courage in facing up to danger meant that she was sought to grant protection to those doing dangerous jobs, such as soldiers, miners and in particular, fire fighters. She is the patron saint of firefighters in both France and Italy.

Fire fighters

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Cardinal Oscar Cantoni in the company of the Commander of the Como Vigili del Fuoco, Antonio Pugliano at the service in the Church of San Giuseppe on 4th December commemorating the Fire Service and Saint Barbara.

Each 4th of December, on Barbara’s saints day, Como Province’s firefighters hold a service of thanksgiving to their patron saint. This takes place in the church closest to their Como headquarters on the edge of town in Via Valleggio. This year the service was conducted by Como’s Cardinal Oscar Cantoni in the company of the Fire Service Commander, Antonio Pugliano. Fire fighters are quite rightly held in high regard for those qualities attributed to Saint Barbara – that is their capacity to face danger with courage and serenity.

The church of San Giuseppe was built from 1963-5. It contains some interesting modern stained glass.

Back in 1935 the qualities of the local fire service were put to their most severe test when the cupola of the cathedral caught fire on the night of September 27th. It was not an easy fire to extinguish being so high up within such a complex structure. And in fact it took the fire service some time and a number of attempts before they were able to extinguish the flames before they spread to damage other parts of the building. They succeeded in ensuring Como avoided a Notre Dame moment. The citations for their bravery after the event commended them for “courage, zeal and self-denial” – the very same qualities associated with Saint Barbara.

The table below shows the activities of the modern day provincial fire service – activities ranging from the saving of life to the rescuing of trapped animals. The figures are for the number of emergency calls made per category of activity over the year from November 2023 to the end of October 2024.

Emergency Calls	Total
Fires and explosions	761
Road accidents and victim rescue	544
Other road activity e.g. removing debris	704
People search and rescue, accidents at work	1211
Gas escape	199
Landslides and natural disasters	344
Rescue and recovery of animals	285
Water damage	413
Rescue from water	38
Various other types of help and assistance	1060
TOTAL	5559

Munitions and bombardment

While we do not know the artist of the Como Saint Barbara, we do know the date it was painted – 1945. And it is not too fanciful to suggest that it may have been commissioned to give thanks for the fact that Como avoided any serious allied bombardment during the war. The allies pursued a policy of intense bombardment of lines of communication, military stores and fuel deposits across all of occupied Italy with Milan suffering particularly badly. The whole area in Como from the Stadio Sinigaglia, the Aeroclub and in Cernobbio from Villa Erba up to Maslianico on the Swiss border was used as storage for military equipment, fuel and various exports to and imports from Germany. Yet the city suffered no significant bomb damage. Believers may well have put this down to the intervention of Saint Barbara but realistically the cause was the allies’ fear of bombs falling on nearby Switzerland. It was the city’s proximity to the border that made it relatively immune to aerial attack.

The Polveriera (Munitions Factory) located safely away from habitation outside of Albate in the Valbasca. It was bombed in 1942 but has subsequently been restored as a bar and café open at weekends.

There was however one exception. In 1942, the allies bombed but did not seriously damage the munitions factory built in 1940 in the Valbasca – out in the countryside beyond Albate. Maybe Saint Barbara was looking out that day since by chance the site was housing hardly any arms or explosives at the time. The Polveriera survived and has now been restored as a bar and cafe with facilities for walkers and cyclists out enjoying this southern most part of the Parco Spina Verde.

The Sentry Box at the Polveriera is the only remaining evidence of its former use as a military establishment.

Elsewhere in the Province, Saint Barbara was less attentive – particularly on the night of 30th September 1944 when twelve allied bombers passed over Erba in two waves with a Nazi fuel store as their target. They returned the following day with eighteen bombers to complete their mission causing seventy seven civilian deaths over the two days.

Saint Barbara’s iconography

Medallion depicting Saint Barbara with the two symbols of martyrdom – the palm frond and the crown.

One factor leading to Saint Barbara’s misfortune was that she was renowned for her beauty. Thus all images of her attempt to portray a beautiful young woman. Her beauty led her appalling father, Dioscuro, to build a tower in which to imprison her and keep her safe from all unapproved suitors. Barbara insisted that the tower should have three windows at its top to symbolise the Holy Trinity. When her father learnt of this devotion to Christianity he set about killing her but Barbara miraculously escaped just by passing through the walls, only then to face capture, torture and eventual execution.

Detail of the painting of Saint Barbara showing the Porta Torre with its third window on the top storey.

Our Como picture shows Barbara with the tower of the Castello Baradello in the distance over her left shoulder and the Porta Torre over her right. The Porta Torre has the requisite third window on its upper storey in keeping with the Barbara cult.

Barbara is also often depicted holding a golden chalice in her right hand. This is a relatively common Catholic symbol of redemption as used in communion. She is almost always depicted as holding a palm frond in her left hand as the symbol of martyrdom. She may also be shown wearing a crown to symbolise her privileged status as a martyr within the pantheon of saints. Many images show her with a cannon at her feet since she is credited with both protecting those manning armories and working in munitions and those on the receiving end of bombardment and explosion.

Image from the Royal New Zealand Army Ordnance Corps who adopted Barabara as ttheir patron saint. This image includes a sword as used for her execution and a book under the golden chalice to commemorate her love of learning.

The belief in her capacity to command fire, either by providing protection from it or directing it towards her adversaries, arose because the fire lit to torment her during her period of torture was inexplicably and automatically extinguished. The lightning bolt that struck her father the moment after he had killed his daughter is also referred to as a bolt of fire. However fire does not feature in many representations of Barbara.

One of the more famous portrayals of Barbara is by Raphael who depicted her on the left side of the Sistine Madonna. She is seen looking down on the two putti at the base of the painting who have become stars in their own right. A corner of a tower can be seen over Barbara’s left shoulder.

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The Sistine Madonna by Raphael with Saint Barbara looking down on the now-famous putti. She is shown with the corner of a tower seen behind her.

Acknowledgments

The painting of Saint Barbara at Como is on display in the Basilica San Fedele as part of an exhibition entitled Capolavori Nascosti that runs until 6th January 2025.

Posted in Art, Culture, Folklore, History, Uncategorized | Tagged Baradello, bombs, Byzantium, christianity, Como, Duomo, faith, History, iconography, Martyrs, Porta Torre, Raphael, Saint Barbara, saints, travel | Leave a comment

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/

Cartina-Ecomuseo-grafica-Emilia-Penati-724x1024

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.

strega-1940--high-resolution-digitally-enhanced-marcello-dudovich

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

18th October, 1942

11th November, 1942

11th January 1943

3rd August 1943

25th September 1943

22nd November, 1943

4th January, 1944

18th April, 1944

9th May, 1944

1st June, 1943

Acknowledgments

Further Reading

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The Saint Barbara Story

Fire fighters

Munitions and bombardment

Saint Barbara’s iconography

Acknowledgments

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Como’s Spirit of Christmas

Como Whisky, Gin and Other Spirits

Conclusion

Further Reading

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Palazzo Rusca and the Sala Bianchi

Palazzo Vietti Rovelli

The Water Room

The Hall of Telemons

Palazzo Olginati Rovelli

The Hall

Garibaldi’s Bedchamber

Acknowledgments

Further Reading

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Lake Pusiano

Isola dei Cipressi

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

Further Information

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Further Information

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Setting the Scene

Milan May 3rd 1946

Torno

Moltrasio, 21.30

Lake Como

Torno, 23.15

Aftermath

The Accident Investigation

Reference

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Roveglio’s Market Niche

Campo Basso and Campo Alto

Climate Change

La Rogna or Olive Knot Disease

Further Challenges

Tasting the Oil

Staying on the Estate

Further Information

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Sinigaglia’s Heritage

Other mentions

Further Reading

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Three Vital Functions

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