.. and seated, as she was, at the end of the boat, she leaned her arm on the side, laid her forehead on her arm, as if sleeping, and wept silently.

Formed during the ice age, Lake Como looks rather like a fjord, surrounded by mountains which form a dynamic backdrop, a series of inlets, rocky terraces and steep slopes plunging down into its waters.

There were no roads apart from the steep trails along which it was no easy matter to drive carts heavily-laden with merchandise. The eastern road was only finished in the 18th century, while the western road was not completed until the turn of the twentieth century.

For centuries, water was the only way of quickly moving people and goods. In past centuries, a ship could travel the entire length of the lake in fourteen hours compared with the three days it took to walk the via Regina, and there were boats which could carry loads of up to 1200 quintals. Just imagine how difficult it would be to move a load like that along steep dirt trails with ox-drawn carts!

In this area you can still admire the typical Quatrass, the Pescarenico Boat, the Spingarda hunting boats, the classic Batei and Nav da pesca, the last remaining specimen.
Queen of the hall is Moltrasina, the last remaining Larian gondola in its original state.

In this room it's also displayed the model of the boat Lucia used for its namesake's escape narrated in The Betrothed, called barca di Pescarenico.

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