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LECCO
Manzoni wanted this edition
to be richly illustrated and
he chose the images just like
an ante litteram film (before
printing). The last viewable
rooms are the interesting
cellars with a wonderful icebox
and two original presses from
the mid-1800’s.
On the first floor of the villa
there is the Local Municipality
Art Gallery where works by
painters who have worked in
the Lecco area from the 17th
century up until the present day
are exposed.
Castle of the Innominato in Vercurago
5 km from Lecco is Vercurago where you can take a nice walk to the Innominato’s castle, ideal in sunny
weather to complete the Manzonian itinerary. The clearing of the Innominato’s castle is located at 180
metres above the lake. Looking up from beneath the castle it is possible to understand the strategic
position in which it is located. From here the view overlooks Lecco’s plateau and the Brianza hills. On
the cliff there is what remains of the Castle, a small squared enclosure with a big tower, reduced in
1902 to a chapel in honour of San Girolamo Emiliani, founder of the Somaschi congregation. In the
centre there is a big cross which replaces the cross laid in the Sixth century to honour the Saint. In the
entrance there is a small church dedicated to the Virgin and Sant’Ambrogio; in the small square lay the
first stones from the border-lay out determined in 1756, and many other boundary stones with crosses
or dates cover the above slopes.
ITINERARY INTO THE HISTORIC CENTRE AND
Lecco’s historic centre
preserves the walls and
the moat that surrounded
the medieval village. There is also a bridge built in XIV
century under the initiative of Azzone Visconti that,
even without the original towers, is still a powerful and
mighty construction. It is highly recommended to visit the
religious buildings: the basilica dedicated to San Nicolò
with its neoclassical structure, thanks to the expansion by
the architect Giuseppe Bovara, is set in a very elevated
position above the relics of the wall that surrounded the
village from the 1200’s.
The sheer walls are still visible and join together at the
large, circular fifth century tower, on the base of which is
the 96-metre neo-gothic bell tower erected in 1882 and
finished in 1904. Inside there is furniture from the seventh
century which belonged to the Fantoni from Nevetta, a
baptismal ciborium from 1596, Romanesque pieces from
the XII century and a chapel decorated with stories of
Saint Antonio in Giottesque style (end of XIV century). A
little further on there is the church of Santa Marta with
baroque decorations and beautiful, natural moulding from
the wind above the porch.
Beneath the Basilica opens up Piazza Cermenati,
dedicated to the geologist and alpinist Mario Cermenati,
in the middle of which stands a monument in his honour;
in the corner adjoining Piazza XX Settembre stands the
“Palazzo delle Paure”, a neo-gothic reconstruction by
Dogana on the ruins of the medieval communal palace,
on which the Visconti’s coat of arms can be found. You
then meet the unusual Piazza XX Settembre which is long
and winding and where it is possible to admire the elegant
Bertarelli house by Bovara, and on another pre-nineteenth
century house, a memorial stone indicating the birth place
of Antonio Stoppani (1824-1891) geologist and naturalist
but also a patriot and writer. The Visconti Tower raises
above the square, the only part of the original Visconti
fortification to survive the demolitions decided at the end
of the XVIII century; the Visconti Tower is now used as a
museum and hosts temporary exhibitions.
The central street of Via Cavour has a classical style
and ends in the square dedicated to Garibaldi, where
the “Teatro Sociale” designed by Bovara is located; the
church of “Nostra Signora della Vittoria” where there are
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