“… 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...(from Manzoni's The Betrothed”

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!

Visitors to this room can also admire the Pescarenico Boat called Lucia after the protagonist of Manzoni's The Betrothed who used it as a means of escape in the memorable scene from the novel quoted above.

Carlo Erba

Among the boats of this room, the motorboat Anna is a beautiful example of the refined construction technique of the Taroni shipyard. Anna was owned by the famous pharmacist and entrepreneur Carlo Erba. She was donated to the museum by his niece Donna Uberta Visconti, sister of the famous film director Luchino Visconti.