Lake

Essence

English PRODUCTION

Como and the area is a land of creativity; the home of silk and fabrics. These have developed through the expertise of craftsmen with tradition and innovation being cleverly combined with a real will to penetrate international markets by achieving excellence in all sectors of the textile industry. The Lake Como region, known here as the Lario, is a place of great beauty, where tourism has developed new hospitality approaches to suit all kinds of tourism. Behind the new ideas for the industry there Produzione SistemaComo2015_SviluppoComo is a renewed cultural model

In collaborazione con that draws on the charm of its Padiglione Italia Expo historic villas, greenhouses Gerardo Monizza and gardens which have been LakeComo Essence Versione. Inglese enhanced by landscaping projects.

Progetto grafico. Nodo The strands come together Disegni. Tommaso Nava Copertina. Olocreativefarm Como through the efforts of the whole horticultural sector as well Edizione NodoLibri Agosto 2015 NodoMedia, as inventive boating projects. via Borsieri 16 22100 Como is a region notable for its www.nodolibrieditore.it agriculture, as well as woodcraft [email protected] and engineering. Out of these has Associato Editori del Lago di Como developed furnishing design in e Associati a sophisticated industry whose Stampa TECNOGRAFICA srl - (Como) ISBN 978-88-7185-262-1 value is acknowledged worldwide. THE ENVIRONMENT, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION THE LANDSCAPE AND CULTURE Lake Como, or the Lario, is Como is the hometown of synonymous with nature and , who gave us beauty. It is place imbued with art the electric battery, and since and culture and set in a wonderful that time the city has never landscape studded by historic tired of its work in research houses, parks and gardens and and development. Today there surrounded by mountains. Visitors are universities and higher can get involved in such sports education establishments and as rowing, sailing, windsurfing research centres in the fields of and golf. The wellness industry textiles, wood, engineering and welcomes an international pure science. tourism with a predilection for The knowledge economy luxury and indulging itself in active and the school-enterprise passions like cycling, walking and system have led to new the even climbing. development of new processes Food and wine have increasingly and the designing of new found ways of reinventing products, as well as the search, themselves with an ongoing through experimentation search for recipes that bridge and the filing of numerous traditional and contemporary patents, for new materials experience. Lovers of culture, and technologies, especially and especially enthusiasts of in the areas of sustainable architecture can rediscover fine development. Romanesque, and Como and Brianza are ideal Rationalist examples, while the places, with their range of contemporary scene is also well workshops and laboratories like represented. those of Como NExT science and Culture also means music, with technology park, for start-ups the opera and concerts as well as paving the way for all kinds of theatre, cinema, museums and innovation and revolutions of exhibitions. current models. Introduction Lake Como and Brianza are lands of great beauty for tourism but are also extremely productive in terms of enterprise. There is the happy combination of the water of the lakes (Lario/Como and Ceresio/ and then the smaller lakes of , , , Segrino, Annone) and of the rivers and streams and, rising above them all, the hills that embrace their northern confines while opening up to the Brianza region that stretches from Varese to and on to Monza. The notes that follow provide a brief narrative of these beauties of place, mentions of some of the personalities who have lived here and a look at the civil and religious buildings, villas, palaces and townhouses that have been so often been built with great skill and imagination. The notes below also tell the story of the great industriousness of the people of Como. For centuries now they have been known as experimenters, innovators, researchers, manufacturers, artisans and industrialists. Reading up on the history of the and the people who have made it great means the visitor will be able to enjoy the area in new ways, with a privileged perspective on a quick and fascinating flight through and over this history and this landscape on a fascinating journey of discovery.

4 Beauty at the lake Ancient Como, its stupendous lake, industrious Brianza: these are almost clichés. Common places perhaps, but Como and Brianza are also brand names for an area with a worldwide image for success and exports. These qualities have made them a magnet for famous visitors, chance encounters, loves at first sight. It has been a place of where acquaintances, business, contracts and contacts of all kinds have flourished since time immemorial. Where elsewhere only livestock grazed, here people were already on holiday; when the roads were perilous and people casually sailed the open waters, when travel was slow here it was already fast, yet quiet. The town was small and welcoming and relatively safe with its city walls guarded by towers, surrounded by streams and separated from the world by a ring of hills. The area had been inhabited since prehistoric times in the Convalle flats between the hills. Just four roads connected Como to the four cardinal points and this has remained fundamentally true even up to our own times. The lake bathed the northern shore to hew the rounded shape that remains a characteristic feature of Como known to all. A little further up are the broader spaces and the first towns of and Torno to the east and and to the west. The lake stretches on and on for almost seventy kilometres of lively water of the most varied hues. It is deep blue beneath a terse sky, emerald green when presaging a coming storm and slate grey when the clouds drench the lake area. They are colours that bring with them opposing feelings and emotions for tourists and inhabitants alike. At one time they literally dyed the waters of the rivers that flowed relentless into Lake Como. These multi- 5 coloured but poisonous tributaries flowed down bearing the residues of dyes from the silk and textile works. For years they disgorged their waste from the banks of the lake. Fortunately, for at least some decades now, this panchromatic effluent disturbs neither eyes nor lungs. The industrial age has evolved and moved away from the lakeside to more accessible areas of the province allowing the water and the air to breathe again and restoring the environment’s balance. The ecological era has brought with it new and good habits to the people of Como and to their vision of work. Lake Como was undoubtedly beautiful then too, with all the craziness of it hues. The passenger boats paid little mind to the pollution and the tourists also liked the grey smoke of the old factories, wafted around by the winds that pushed the boat and lifted the hats and scarves of ladies travelling for pleasure on carefree holidays. Thousands of period photographs testify to those times, as do many many advertising posters.

Endeavour first and foremost Como and Lake Como has always been a borderland, a passageway and land of social tranquillity, as well as home to a bit of smuggling. It has also been a lake port with brisk trade in goods and ideas and so also a home to business, workshops and labs and invention; from the ancient woollen trade of Roman and medieval times to the felt and silk trades and lastly, and since time immemorial, a place where metals, wire and wood have been worked and produced. This very varied and productive environment has attracted people because of the beauty of the location, the industriousness of the people and the ability to turn every material into a thing of beauty with commercial value. It has boats, where shipwrights have bequeathed their expertise to an established modern 6 nautical industry known for its sophisticated design. There is the furniture, which has made the carpenter’s workshops of Cantù famous for their skills and taste in transforming solid wood, plywood and plastics for elegant shapes and colours. There has also however remained a strong focus on comfort and not just on high craft and material quality. Perhaps a few important steps in the process have been overlooked here, because there are also the decorators, gilders and carvers who have too contributed to the great changes to the construction model and the changing markets. Other important occupations have played vital parts in adding substance to the creativity, and notably those of planning, engineering, architecture, designing and the creation of new forms and materials in general. Woven and processed fabrics were in the last century the most creative of all the region’s products and launched a whole textile industry linked to the magical world of national and international fashion. Como’s fabrics were well known and turned up in the smartest shops in . Great tailors used them for haute couture and aristocrats and the rich Bourgeoisie could not get enough of them.

Just keep on working These processes required technical ability and constant adaptations to new needs. The creation of textiles went from the handloom to the mechanised wooden loom and then the metal frame and hence on to today’s programmable frames controlled by sophisticated computer systems. The outstanding feature of adaptability to the needs of creativity has however remained a constant, with ever-new combinations of yarn, texture, colour, design and printing. While the workmanship has always been characterised by the common thread of speed, safety 7 and the very highest quality. Examples of this are the fabrics up cycled from plastic waste; as are the threads recovered from the special treatment of oranges, for the most astonishing results. If Como’s textile sector seems to be that which best exemplifies the region’s creativity, design and variation, the metallurgy industry has also been continually changing as a focus of innovation, with its search for new things and new discoveries. In doing so it has been able to meet the constant challenges of the market and complex project requirements. The industry seems above all to have succeeded in going beyond limits apparently imposed by nature by combining materials never before seen, such as with the use of graphene. It has stepped across boundaries to produce unimagined forms with the use of carbon fibre in manners never previously thought possible. With all of this we have seen the development of an industrial model particularly well able to adapt and to adjust to the needs of client, with craftsmanship and accelerated design and working times.

Continuous revolution The people of Como are naturally reserved but when it comes to design and work they are almost always at the forefront of innovation. A great example to them has been given by their own scientist Alessandro Volta (1745-1827) an investigator and student of nature and physics and the inventor of the electric Pile in 1799. It is not hard to imagine how his experience laid the way for a whole body of research and a aptitude for study that has become a model for the city. This need to innovate is illustrated by the “incubators”; centres that provide assistance and encouragement to young scientists, manufacturers and enterprising inventors. A model that exemplifies all of this is the so-called COMO NExT of Lomazzo in the restored old 8 Somaini Cotton Mill which offers opportunities for discussion and work for several dozen young people. Even back in the beginning, the old carpenter’s shop was always open; and it is still a workshop that never closes. It is an industrial enterprise that does not easily fit into schemes, categories or normal rules. A large community of workers’ primary task is to find solutions, to respond quickly and expertly to demand and calibrate costs in such a way that all objectives are met. Innovative interior designs and individual pieces of furniture were the response to a crisis in products that arose in the mid twentieth century. The relationship between the artisan’s workshops, largely in the Brianza region, with architects, designers and Italian and foreign universities created a whole new world. The house and office were no more as they had been. As in all continuous revolutions, which start from the bottom, the obscure workshop was the ideal place for experimenting with the forms and the materials that would become typical of so much of production in the latter half of the twentieth century. The furniture industry, its prestigious brands, well known all around the world, began in those years of testing and innovation, showed courage and continuous creativity to take the local market to the large exhibitions and international trading platforms.

Tourism and communications Do tourism and culture conflict one with the other? Sometimes perhaps, but never in the areas of Lake Como and Brianza. Today’s modern tourism is the child of the noble and ancient resort. It began life in the bourgeois society of the early twentieth century and gathered pace in the interwar years, to explode with the economic boom of the sixties. Modern transport meant that it became possible to 9 get to and around the region. This was not yet truly perceived of as a “landscape” as real appreciation of its beauty and aesthetic value would come later, and even then not always easily. Lake Como and Brianza took on the form they have over centuries of human activity as well as with the special input of intelligent patrons, cultured artists and craftsmen of great experience. The result is a harmonious construct of man within nature. There were not enough roads to cope with the increased traffic speeds of the twentieth century. The first motorway to be built in , in 1924, is called the Autostrada dei Laghi, the Lakes Highway, which runs between Milan and Varese. The next was the stretch between Lainate and Como, which opened in 1925. Tourism between the two wars, and even more vigorously after the second World War, pushed development of the whole area, towards unknown shores and non-existent beaches. No sand? We’ll bring it in. Annoying trees, we’ll chop them down. Houses? let’s build them, double houses, and hotels and poor quality holiday villa complexes. Everything was done in unseemly haste. Not only on the seaside Rivieras but also on Lake Como they were eager to build where nature had failed to do so. All this with the aim of promoting tourism and providing summertime facilities such as the beaches and lidos of Bellagio (1940), (1934), Cernobbio, Cadenabbia and . Some even jutted over the lake with more or less “rationalist” constructions as in Como: Lido of (1930), Lido of Villa Geno (1950) and Moltrasio (1960). The lakes lidos would become the theatres of change in the customs of the visitors. These were public places designed to show off the changing mentality and spirit of the community. The customs and costumes, in the sense the way people 10 dressed, or undressed, saw the one piece garment and an ever smaller amount of fabric used to display ever increasing amounts of skin. Como’s textile industry took advantage of the trends and created colourful stretch fabrics and invented new styles. It helped the push towards the more liberated female body. Factories opened to manufacture swimwear, and all these with exclusively female workforces. People hung out on the artificial beach all day, (when you had to pay to go there you had to make the most of it), while incalculable numbers of sandwich boxes where taken along from home, in the manner of labourers going to work. Tourists and residents often shared the joys of the holiday season side by side.

Tourism, culture and economics Tourism came to occupy a leading role in the national economies of both richer and poorer countries, and especially in Italy’s, with its legendary cultural seams that were fit for exploitation. Tourism and culture do not share the same goals; they are not always directed towards the same clientele and nor either do they automatically derive the same benefits from the capital used. One invests; while the other, it is sometimes said with irritation, consumes. One makes; the other squanders. It would take time to realise that culture too had an economic value. Lake Como, better than most places, embodies the union between economics and beauty. The beautiful villas once inhabited all year round would largely become hotels, residential resorts, museums or conference centres. Modernity imposed hard choices. Another difference is that tourism operates at a fast pace while culture demands time and is not always suited to the needs of the masses. Tourism has changed from simply taking a holiday to being something more akin to the alternative 11 employment of leisure time. This change has in recent years brought about a split or at least a division within tourism. You cannot assimilate a sensation into a single moment and hold on to it. Tourism sees the body travel fast while the mind absorbs things more slowly. The lake is particularly loved by those who prefer a slow time, a barely perceptible meander, the ebb and flow of a journey between banks that seem so close that you could almost touch them.

Ancient journeys The Roman road system was a complex network of paved roads linking major cities, and lesser towns, with the imperial capital that was . The system made for rapid movement of armed forces but also facilitated trade and contacts between individuals. Having said that, journey times were still long and travelling was not always a safe enterprise. When the Romans chose Como in the first century BC, they clearly had in mind the strategic importance of the lake and of the potential for connections with Northern . The ways would have remained just paths cut into the slope for one and a half millennia and only boats and barges would connect the villages on Lake Como with the city itself and thence onward from Como to Milan. Those were not easy times and then holidays were more a way of life. Pliny the Elder and the Younger spent time here building villas and it seems they owned particularly beautiful villas on Lake Como itself. Certainly these would however have rarely been lived in. With the two Plinys we have an example of the relationship between travel, vacation, discovery and culture. This was their search for the new, the confirmation of scientific and geographical knowledge and insights into wellbeing. It was essentially data gathering. We see all this in Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia, no less than 37 volumes of collected scientific 12 knowledge. It was in short cultural experience gleaned from constant travelling. We might now, with a little ‘superficially, might refer to it as cultural tourism.

Sailing and flying The “Navigazione” passenger boats on Lake Como are now in public hands and link all the main ports, especially in summer, while there is a fleet of hydrofoils that runs all year round to take working people and professionals of all kinds between the towns and villages and the city of Como. There is are also private leisure boats in all the major locations. The services date back to the distant past and have been modernized to provide motorboat and medium capacity passenger boat services that are much loved by the tourists. The relatively small size of the vessels means they can navigate close to the coast so you can enjoy the sights of fine lakeside villas and gardens from close up. There have been many new developments in the science of navigation and the ancient shipwright traditions are now put to work on building high-tech boats using new and safe materials for craft of great beauty. The boat-building industry is well and truly back. There is also even an electrically powered boat on the small lake of Pusiano. There are interesting and rare sights such as the seaplanes of the famous “Aero Club Como”. The experience is unique and exciting, and open to anyone wishing to take a trip on a means of transport that is plane that is also improperly referred to as a flying “boat”. From aloft you can view one of the most beautiful scenes in the world. You can even learn to fly the seaplane yourself, and obtain a licence that can also be used for “land” aircraft.

Direct and reflected culture Tourists visiting Lake Como can enjoy a landscape, 13 some of which is of a breath-taking beauty, with numerous historical and artistic buildings to see. You can admire dozens of monuments such as the Duomo or cathedral. The thing that first strikes the spectator here is the dome of Como’s cathedral. It is the outstanding monument in the city that was founded in 1396 at the time of the Visconti family of Milan. The Cathedral is the artistic and architectural centre of the city. It is very richly decorated with paintings and sculptures and is a true jewel of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles. The cathedral square is not very large while the façade rises up very high to the large steeple that is the Gugliotto maggiore. The huge three-naved surface tells the stories of saints and the great and good, with nearly a hundred statues. The dome, which was designed by Filippo Juvarra and built between 1730 and1740 cannot be seen from the square. It can be seen as you round the sides of the building. If you turn to the right you come to the theatre known as the Teatro Sociale (Cusi, 1813) which stands on the ruins of the now destroyed Castello della Torre Rotonda, the round-towered castle. This was destroyed by the City Hall and the Palchettisti to make more room. It is a theatre of considerable architectural prestige and is neoclassical in style. It is above all a fully functional establishment with a full programme of operas, concerts, plays, experimental works and events all year round. The Arena del Sociale at the back is also now in use again, in the summertime of course, with performances of opera and even film festivals. Let us take for a moment a look at the Casa del Fascio (designed by the architect Giuseppe Terragni, 1932-1936). This is a rigorous structure, a little cold, almost icy, yet perfectly composed in its architectural forms and is the finest example of Como’s and Italy’s rationalist building. It is almost impenetrable and often 14 closed to visitors. This is a military zone but architects from all over the world, above all the Americans, love it and come to Como just to be able to admire, study and photograph it, which can always be done at least from the outside. San Fedele is a Romanesque church of the eleventh century that was later transformed in the Baroque period and then restored almost completely to its ancient form in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and is home to a notable series of frescos. Santa Cecilia is a wonderful example of with fine stucco work (closed on public holiday, on workdays the church of the Adoration). There is also Sant’Abbondio, another example of Romanesque architecture in the city, oft reworked and finally restored at the end of the nineteenth century. Notable for its two bell towers, it has fourteenth century frescoes, including a perfectly preserved long series on the Life of Christ. The university Università dell’ is now nearby in the old convent cloister which later became the Minor Seminary. The Monument to the Fallen by the architect Giuseppe Terragni, 1933 has to be admired, facing Lake Como close to the Volta Temple by Federico Frigerio, (1927- 1928).

Pleasure spaces. Houses, villas and gardens The area’s cultural wealth is spread wide around Lake Como and a good part of the Brianza region. The settlements are ancient in origin. The nobility of the sixteenth century and later the Bourgeoisie’s nineteenth century great and the good overcame the difficulties of the road and transport systems with larger boats called “comballi” and “gondolas” that helped with the transportation of goods, workers and guests and made it possible to build beautiful residences on shores of the lake itself. 15 The most celebrated of these include Villa Olmo, Villa del Grumello, , Villa d’Este, Villa Sola Cabiati, Villa Balbiano and , , Palazzo Gallio and Villa Leoni in (Pietro Lingeri, 1940), a perfect and elegant example of the rationalist model. From Como to Bellagio we can see Villa Taverna, , Villa Melzi and Villa Serbelloni. From Lecco to there are Villa Cipressi and Villa Monastero. They are all truly splendid residences which are further enhanced by the presence of a great paintings, sculptures and furnishings. This is very much true of, for example, Villa Melzi in Bellagio; Villa Carlotta and Villa Monastero. These places have established new kinds of relationships, including in organisational and commercial terms, with a tourism industry increasingly thirsty for knowledge of the historical details. Brianza, on the other hand, has seen a blossoming of contemporary architecture. Among the many examples worth seeing is the bank Banca BCC dell’Alta Brianza (Adolfo Natalini 1978-1983); the B&B of Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Renzo Piano & Richard Rogers, Citterio & Partners.

Personalities on Lake Como Holiday resorts first, and fast tourism later, have seen celebrities and famous people sweeping all over the world. They have in turn made the places they go to famous and recognised. It is difficult to name all of those who have chosen to come to Lake Como. Leaving aside Paolo Giovio and Pope Innocent XI Odescalchi, both natives of Como who hardly ever returned, mention should be made of Caroline of Brunswick (1768-1821) at Villa d’Este (wife of Britain’s King George IV) and of General (1767-1826) and of a doctor, Joseph Frank (1771- 16 1842), who built the first Gallietta (as residence) and then the Pyramid of (a self-celebratory tomb). There was the romantic literary figure Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) who was at Villa Celesia (now Grumello), Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) in Como, Moltrasio and Blevio; Stendhal (1783-1842) who boated around the lake and Wagner’s wife Cosima Liszt was born in Como in 1837. Also staying here were Margherita Sarfatti (1880 to 1961) at Lietocolle, Winston Churchill (1874- 1965), Konrad Adenauer (1876-1967) and, to bring us up to the present there is George Clooney and many actors, singers, soccer players, artists and journalists. Bellagio is famous all over the world and has even been “copied” in Las Vegas. The residential centre divides lake into its two branches, that of Como and that of Lecco. It has narrow, picturesque streets, with high fashion boutiques, jewellers and antiques and art shops. It has excellent hotels, restaurants and taverns and is a favoured watering hole for international tourists. Menaggio, Tremezzo, , and are also much-loved destinations. They are all very different but each has many historical monuments, their own special views of the lake and surrounding mountains whether the visitor is on a long stay or just here for a brief for those who stay or getaway. Many just keep coming back or have even bought property here as holiday homes. Of the 154 municipal districts of the province of Como and the dozens facing the lake, many have succeeded in linking the contemporary reality of craft workshops, often of the highest quality, small factories, small factories, trade, service industries and tourism. Other villages have lost many of their essential commercial services, while maintaining a healthy tourist sector and a renewed passion for the maintenance of these places. Almost everywhere you 17 can find villages that are the starting points for special walks and the discovery of the area’s environmental, historical and art secrets. Many, like Blevio, Torno and , as well as those in the centre of the lake such as Ossuccio, and , have conserved their urban structure, refusing to give ground to building speculation that would have changed the landscape for ever. Some, then, really have managed to escape the creeping sprawl. Looking to we find that very many eclectic and Art Nouveau villas arose in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This came about thanks to the Ferrovie Nord railway (1885-1898) and the Funicular railway (1894), just two signs of the revolution taking place in transport.

Half secret places Como, or more particularly its historic centre, has lost many inhabitants, but has retained its enchanting atmosphere that you can absorb strolling around its streets. The town plan was laid down by the ancient Romans, marked out by the Cardo and Decumanus, while these were overlaid with the medieval road network which was itself a little straightened out in the nineteenth century. Many of the palaces date from the Renaissance, Baroque and eighteenth century, but the image we have of the dwelling houses, particularly the more popular or bourgeois houses, is decidedly that of an assortment of nineteenth and early twentieth buildings. These various periods have handed down attractive balconies to us and especially the wrought iron balconies whose elegant lightness is very widespread in this area. Como also harbours other secret places. Some of the 18 houses have beautiful courtyards, which can be seen beyond the entrance hallways. These often contain gardens enclosed within the walls of the buildings. Some of them are hanging gardens and grow on the ancient walls surrounding the city.

The Walled City The Walled City is the heart of the provincial capital that has, at least for outsiders, lent its name to the lake. It is the starting point for lake Como. It is the custodian of its history, housing the Civic Museums and Art Gallery, the very up to date but historical city library and the inescapable emotional starting for point for the most attentive and the most hurried tourists. It sits at the centre of the broad valley of Convalle, surrounded by hills that are not so very high but which do shelter it from harsh winds while allowing a light breeze to blow. The hills themselves are cloaked with low trees that add colour to their slopes. It is that reassuring green which forms the backdrop to almost every street of the walled city, while the city itself opens up like a stage, its very presence a theatrical show.

Rising out of the water Lakes, water and islands; just the two of them, but they are quite splendid. The Romans built a fort on Lake Como’s island of Comacina, and there was still a fort there in early medieval times as revealed by today’s archaeological digs and by the documentary record. A restaurateur lives there now and it can be visited by public or private boats. In 1939 Pietro Lingeri built three houses there in the rationalist style, with the idea of providing creative spaces for artists. It is famous for the feast of the “Island Fire” on St. John’s day. The small Isola dei Cipressi, Cypress Island, stands in the waters of Lake Pusiano. Although privately owned it can be visited on request and is a natural treasure 19 with its rare and exotic trees and birds. It is particularly splendid in the autumn.

Dynamic occasions Sports on the land, on the lake and in the air. Firstly there is walking, along a network of trails that covers the entire area connecting the plain the shores of the lakes and the surrounding hills. Notably there is the ancient Via Regina, a legendary road along the western shores of the lake. There is also a path that has now been partially recovered and on the other side, from Como to Bellagio, Strada Regia, another trail cut into the slopes. Both trails are easy to follow, almost always these grooves in the hills offer views from above the lake that enthral all their walkers. For those who enjoy a long walk there is the Via dei Monti Lariani, or the Lake Como mountain trail, from Como right to the end of the lake with views of both Lake Como and , known here also as Lario and Ceresio, while they also even permit views of clear days of Milan and Lecco. The sport of rowing, with sliding or fixed seats, came out of the local traditions of the boatmen and is supported by nearly a dozen local associations dotted all around both the Como and Lecco branches of the lake. Sailing here means both professional and enthusiast competitions, while the design and building of boats in many local centres remains an important industry. Then there are the sports of speed boating, windsurfing, and water skiing, and far above there pass the fans of hang gliding and paragliding who ply the airways between Cornizzolo and Brianza. Finally there is of course football, with Como playing in a historic stadium designed by Giovanni Greppi (1927), renovated by Gianni Mantero in the thirties and many times remodelled at its enviously positioned location on the shores of the lake. The province of Como also offers seven golf courses that attract golfers from every corner of the world. 20 Wonderful meat and fish There is no miracle, just bounty and richness. The gastronomy of Lake Como and Brianza rests on the very solid foundations of the fruits of the land and the water. Agriculture is renewing itself with crops that are not only those traditionally grown here but with particular attention to the sustainability of the area and the quality of the products that very well received in the markets and have already become part of a cuisine that is in a process of change. The fishing industry on Lake Como is organised to best serve the local restaurants and their simple and tasty fish-based dishes, while the smaller lakes remain the domain only of amateur fishing.

New mentalities The mentality and behaviour of the today’s tourist have changed in the time of economic crisis. Less money about means fewer opportunities and an ever-greater desire to use time to best possible advantage. This coupled to an ever-stronger urge to learn, to enjoy and to create memories. Travel is expensive, as we are all aware. Our relationship with the place visited has tended to become less superficial. The will, opportunity and ability to learn has increased and we are eager to lap up what the guides have to tell us about the epochs and the styles and the stories and the characters. Walking around with the head held up and a camera around the neck is in the end just a way of getting to know and see things, of understanding and to discovering and getting up close to the culture. Looking at the old black and white photographs it is apparent that there has been an improvement in the quality of the buildings and in the places themselves. It may be said that even if they are less “quaint” they are more fit for purpose. Como has shown itself to 21 be sensitive and careful in the restoration of its public monuments and religious and private buildings. The Cathedral is kept under constant observation by experts. It is like a complex machine that has to maintained in kept in perfect working order and the same is true of the churches. Lake Como’s villas have often acquired a new image while regaining all their original value and colours. The ancient villages are being repopulated and the little houses are being given a new lease of life. The tourist no longer wanders listlessly among the Romanesque, the Gothic and the Rationalist but will now more often see art as a process of continuous discovery in an area rich in opportunities. There is the Baroque all along the Valle d’Intelvi, but also integrated here according to its particular sensibility for Rationalist architecture. The city finally decided to grow entirely without architectural frills, even in its suburban districts.

Como, Lake Como and the Brianza tell us their stories The times of the narrative have changed. The places of culture are seemingly static, like backgrounds upon which it was difficult to project interesting tales. The story has however been taken up again with the materials that make up the buildings, their colours and their shapes and the lives of those dwelled there. We learn about who built them and paid for them, whose effigies can be see there. Why are these people here? In the busy streets, in the squares where people pause, in the landscapes perhaps too filled with the inhabitants of Como and the Lake Como and Brianza areas, they have sought out the true “spirit of place”. They communicate this to the holidaymakers who love the area and keep coming back. The tourists who discover things, materials and buildings. All this with a new and rekindled spirit of adventure.

22 LAKE COMO ESSENCE

progetto allestimento / exhibit design ILARIA MARELLI STUDIO installazione video / video installation OLO CREATIVE FARM suono / sound design EMANUELA BARDIN foto / photo ENRICO CANO disegni / sketches TOMMASO NAVA testi / copy GERARDO MONIZZA attori dei “quadri parlanti” / ‘quadri parlanti’ actors MARCO CONTINANZA PAULINE FAZZIOLI STEFANO ANDREOLI grazie a / thanks to ARTIFICIO allestimento / set up SPAZIO S allestimento del verde / green set up IL SEME SistemaComo2015 MARCO BALLABIO CHIARA BIGNAMI FRANCESCO CAMPORINI PINA SERGIO CLAUDIA STRIATO

PRODUZIONE / manufacturing A.M. Taborelli, Camar, E.M., Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Gallotti & Radice, Museo didattico della Seta OMP Porro, Porro, Silik – Creazioni, Tabu, Téchne

Video Camera di Commercio di Como – SistemaComo2015: Paolo , DREAMERS / Provincia di Como - Settore cultura / ComoNExT e le imprese del parco scientifico tecnologico: Lisa OLO Creative Farm / Cibio OLO Creative Farm

AMBIENTE PAESAGGIO CULTURA / environment landscape culture Aero Club Como, Il Seme

Video Provincia di Como – Settore cultura; di Como, Camera di Commercio di Como, Sviluppo Como, TEDxLakeComo, SistemaComo2015, Jean Marc Droulers, Michele Canepa: Yann Arthus Bertrand / Comuni di: Bellagio, Cernobbio, Como, , Menaggio, , Varenna / Camera di Commercio di Como, SistemaComo2015: Paolo Lipari – DREAMERS / Camera di Commercio di Como, Accademia Galli, Orticolario 2014 OLO Creative Farm / Lukaz films – Thomson bike tours / Ecofrazione di Baggero / Swing Crash Festival OLO Creative Farm

RICERCA INNOVAZIONE / research innovation Accademia Galli – Ied, Bellotti, ComoNExT e le imprese del parco scientifico tecnologico: Aetherna / BYOMusic / Centro Sviluppo Realtà Virtuale / Coelux / Directa Plus / D-Orbit / EEW Italy / Emotional View / Itaca Nova / Laboratorio Creativo Geppetto / Maxim / MC BIO / Metea / Microenergy / Parker / Quantus / Rigam Engineering / Wina. Filo d’Oro, Food pr, Roncoroni, SAATI

Video Fondazione Volta: Paolo Lipari – DREAMERS / Camera di Commercio di Como: Audio Video Italiana / ComoNExT e le imprese del parco scientifico tecnologico: ComOn OLO Creative Farm / Frog Living Divani OLO Creative Farm / Marker Orchestra in Gioco OLO Creative Farm / Boldini OLO Creative Farm un ringraziamento particolare / special thanks to Filo d’Oro Tabu

Riva 1920 Creazioni Digitali

Tendaggi Paradiso