Stage 1 – From the Parish Church of SS. Trinità to Piazza Roma

Description

The route begins in the square in front of the new Parish Church of SS. Trinità, located at the lake shore and consecrated in 1929, in front of the entrance stands the War Memorial of every War. Leaving the Church on the right, we enter via Lungo Telo di Sinistra, until Piazza Giovanni Grandi. In the 18th and 19th Century, on this road, which until the beginning of the last century was a beach narrow strip lapped by the lake, stood the buildings of the most important families living in Argegno, among them the one belonging to the Priest Giovan Battista Durini in 1736, who in his will left a bequest to open a school in Argegno; today it is a block of flats made by four floors, plastered but not painted, with green window-shutters. Furthermore a building probably adjacent to Casa Durini or the one today seat of the Banca San Paolo, at the end of the 16th Century had a winepress and was sold to Luigi Raimondi, important representative of the nobility of the Como region. After 70 metres we turn on the left and we cross the Telo torrent on the new bridg , agile metallic structure realized in the years 2001-2002. From the bridge, watching towards north west we can observe the cableway Argegno – Pigra, set in motion in 1971, which allows to reach the country of Intelvi in 4 minutes, overcoming an altitude of 648 metres and with a gradient in some points of 95%. We descend from the bridge, turning immediately on the right, where there is a slide for the disabled (or alternatively we descend the steps beside) and we go on, leaving on the left the beach along via Lungo Telo di Destra. We walk along the Marina, dating back to 1910 and realized on an alluvial plain on the right of the Telo, already used for more than a century as a goods depot. Overcoming a Café hosted in an elegant building in modern Liberty style in green iron and glass, we reach the monument dedicated to Pietro Vassena. We walk along the lakeshore for about 30 metres until the new lake station of Argegno, structure in iron and glass in modern Liberty Style, inaugurated in 2004 and dedicated to Gianfranco Conti Persini, Republic Senator and Mayor of Argegno in the 60ies. Once, here there was the ancient medieval harbor (documented starting from the 14th Century) afterwards covered in 1910. With our back to the lake station, we cross carefully the SS 340, locally called via Milano, in correspondence to the zebra crossings. We climb up on the sidewalk and we are in front the present Cafè “Motta”, hosted in the lower part of the former medieval Tower of the Viscardi Family. Beside the Café Motta there are several buildings of medieval origin, among them the present Hotel – Restaurant “Barchetta” and other tourist shops, which face Piazza Roma, “heart” of the tourist Argegno, where until 1931 stood the old Parish Church of SS. Trinità. Alternatively to the crossing of the SS 340, we can come back, following the sidewalk along the lake, in front to the Café “Il Porto”, enter an underpass with no architectural barriers which allows the entrance to Piazza Rimembranze (in front to the Trattoria “Da Emilio”) and from here, always with no architectural barriers, through a narrow street we reach Piazza Roma, just in front to the new fountain.

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