ITALIAN JOURNEY- PROGRAMME 1

MILAN- LAKE COMO

People in Milan are very hard working, but they also know how to have a good time. 

At the weekend, when people leave the city centre, there are lots of destinations for them to choose from. They can go to the seaside, the mountain, or head North to the lakes. 

One of the city-dwellers’ favourite lakes is Lake Como. It has been a cherished haven for centuries. 

Gabriella goes on a tour of the lake with the author Giorgio Cavallieri to discover why it is so popular.

Gabriella: Menaggio is very well situated.

Giorgio Cavallieri: It is very well situated, but it’s also a strategic point: for example one of Italy’s most famous customhouses used to be here. In the past the lake was used for contraband, because of its vicinity to Switzerland, and Menaggio was a strategic location. It’s also at the crossroads of all the paths leading to Lugano. If you cross over from here and then carry on for twenty kilometres you get to Lugano, and that’s why Menaggio has always been so important strategically.

Gabriella: So that means people have an almost private, personal relationship with the lake now.

Giorgio Cavellieri: That’s right, they do. Every site has its own characteristics, sometimes it’s old buildings, or famous stately homes. Here there’s a real link…I mean, for example in Menaggio there are several grand hotels. 

Gabriella: Yes, I did notice them.

Giorgio Cavallieri: Well, for instance there’s the Hotel Vittoria, which took its name from Queen Victoria. They named the hotel after her because at the beginning of the last century she was very popular, and English tourists used to come here a lot. Going back to the beginning of the XIXth century there’s always been something special about Lake Como- people in Milan have always seen it as their lake, as their exclusive out-of-town attraction.  They usually come here on Saturdays and Sundays, go for walks, often in the summer, and a lot of rich Milanesi own houses here, or rent houses on the lake. This is Villa Carlotta, it’s one of the lake’s more classical buildings. It’s an XVIIth century villa: the interior is neo-classical and the exterior is, well, let’s say, rather eclectic…

Gabriella: It’s beautiful!

Giorgio Cavallieri: Oh yes, it is. It’s called Villa Carlotta because in 1843 it was bought by a Prussian princess, Charlotte, who lived there for about ten years. And now we’re approaching Mezzegra. Mezzegra is significant in terms of history: it has associations with one of the most dramatic periods in Italian history. Yes, it was a very dramatic period for the area because, in a way, it’s here that the fascist era ended, and with it war in Italy. It’s in this village here, in Mezzegra, that Benito Mussolini and his girlfriend Carla Petacci were murdered on April 28th 1945.

Gabriella: The lake has also always been a source of inspiration for writers.

Giorgio Cavallieri: That’s right.

Gabriella: And you’re a writer!

Giorgio Cavallieri: Well, for example, one of the first authors who described Lake Como was  Stendhal. He was French but he fell in love with Italy, with Northern Italy, and with Lake Como. Manzoni’s ‘Betrothed’ was also set in this area. Other more modern authors, like Henry James and Herman Hesse also wrote beautiful passages about the lake.

As they near the end of their tour, Gabriella and Girgio go to the town of Como, which lenss its name to the lake. 

Giorgio shows us his home, a perfect example of rationalist architecture, and one of the first of its kind in Italy.

Finally, Giorgio proudly shows us an amazing panorama of the lake. 

Gabriella: What a wonderful view! Giorgio, thank you so much for showing us Lake Como with such passion. Now I know why people in Milan love it so much, and why it has inspired so many authors and storytellers.