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The lake of Como, or Lario, has been known since the Roman times for the sweetness of its climate and the beauty of its landscape;
And even the tradition confers to Pliny the Younger the property of two manors, of which, unfortunately, no sure traces have remained.
Through the water channels, from the Padana plain you could easily reach the beginning of Valtellina
and Val Chiavenna, and from the latter, through the Via Regia, also Roman built, reach Engadine.
During the Early Middle period, Teodolinda, the Langobard queen, promoted the construction of a road along the entire north coast;
And this road, in some parts is still intact (one of which brings you directly to "Casa Vittoria”).
There are many Romanesque churches, thanks to the work of “the Magistris Comacini.”
From one thousand and five hundred the first manors started appearing along the lakeside,
and they have been increasing since the middle of one thousand seven hundred.
There are different families of the Milanese aristocracy who build their dwellings on Lake Como, often surrounded by beautiful gardens.
The great notoriety of Lario begins since ninth century, when the visit of the places
is included in an almost mandatory detour of the classic route of the “Grand Tour.”
Tourism was born, with the construction of the first big hotels equipped with all the modern comforts,
they can be reached by comfortable boats (some of which have been restored and are still in service).
Lake Como becomes the subject of an infinite number of paintings and engravings, also of well-known painters;
And the background of romantic stories, among which one can cite an episode of the Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal.
