Description of the attraction
Lecco is a small town located on the southeastern shore of Lake Como, 50 km from Milan. According to the latest census, it is home to about 48 thousand people. Lecco is the administrative center of the province of the same name. To the north and east of the city rise the so-called Bergamo Alps, cut by the Valsassin valley.
Where Lecco stands, Lake Como narrows and forms the Adda River - many bridges have been built across it to improve transport links with Milan. In Lecco itself, there are four bridges across the Addu - the Azzone Visconti Bridge (1336-1338), the Kennedy Bridge (1956), the Alessandro Manzoni Bridge (1985) and the railway bridge.
Archaeological finds indicate that the first inhabitants of these places were Celtic tribes. Then the Romans came here, who built a kastrum, a type of military settlement, and turned it into an important transport hub. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 6th century, the city was captured by the Lombards, who were later replaced by the Franks. Emperor Otto I the Great spent a lot of time in Lecco, who suppressed the uprising of 964, raised by the local Count Attone against the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Konrad II also stayed here, who wanted to free the city from church power. Then Lecco became part of the Duchy of Milan and only in the middle of the 19th century, along with the rest of Lombardy, became part of a unified Italy. During the Second World War, this city was an important center of the partisan struggle against the German invaders.
Today Lecco is a popular tourist resort. The city has about a hundred monuments of history and culture, among which it is worth highlighting the small Romanesque Basilica of San Nicolo, Palazzo delle Paure, Teatro Della Sochieta, Palazzo Bovara and the Church of Santa Maria.
Palazzo delle Paure stands on Piazza XX Settembre and faces the embankment and Piazza Cermenati. This four-story building was built in 1905 for the local tax office, for which it got its name - "Palazzo delle Paure" in translation from Italian means "Palace of Fear".
Palazzo Bovara today houses the municipality of Lecco. The name of this building comes from the name of the architect who designed it and can sometimes be misleading, since the house in which the architect Giuseppe Bovara was born and Villa Bovara, the family estate, bear the same name. The construction of the Palazzo began in 1836 - initially it was assumed that it would be the first hospital in Lecco, but in 1843 the work had to be suspended due to lack of funds, and that is why only one of the planned four courtyards was completed. In 1854, the façade of the Palazzo was completed, facing on one side towards Piazza Diaz and on the other towards Piazza Lega Lombarda. Since 1928, the building has been the seat of the city municipality.
Another interesting Lecco palace is Palazzo Falk, standing in the main city square, Piazza Garibaldi, next to Palazzo della Banca Popolare and Palazzo Croce di Malta. Also worth seeing are Villa Eremo with a spacious park, built in 1690 by the Marquis of Serponti, and Villa Manzoni, where the famous Italian poet, writer and playwright Alessandro Manzoni lived. Today, this elegant neoclassical building houses a museum dedicated to the writer. To the right of the villa you can see a small chapel, built in 1777, where Father Manzoni is buried.
