Boats tell the stories of the marvellous lakeside villas and the noble families that stayed on Lake Como over the centuries. 

It was in the 18th century that the first luxurious villas began to appear on Lake Como and with them came the demand for pleasure boats and boats to serve the requirements of the great aristocratic families.
At that time the Venetian gondola was a true status symbol and these boats were to be found on the Thames, the Seine and on canals all over Europe as far afield as Saint Petersburg.
It stands to reason therefore that from the 18th century onwards. the upper classes on Lake Como were vying with one another to own the most beautiful boat and the Venetian gondola satisfied this desire for elegance and prestige.
The boatwrights on the lake were skilled in the construction of warships as well as cargo and work boats but had little experience with boats for the upper classes; in fact, the aristocracy turned to the more sophisticated Venetian boatbuilders, and the one who stood out from the rest was Ferdinando Taroni.
The town registry of Carate Lario records that the Taroni family already owned land on the lake as far back as 1270 and then for reasons unknown moved to Venice around 1400 where they learned the noble craft of boatbuilding in the Venetian shipyards.
So considering the growing demand and great opportunities offered by the Como market, the Taronis decided to move back to Lake Como and in 1790 opened their boatyard in the town of their forefathers, Carate Lario.
Their advertising manifesto reads as follows:

Available to build any kind of boat for lakes, rivers and garden ponds, whether common or elegant, having in this respect acquired the necessary skills in the shipyard of Venice under the direction of the renowned conservatore Angelo Albanese.