Ossuccio Path 1. A small island amidst great history and old walkways. Points of interest



Stage 1 – From the parking of the Antiquarium to the jetty for the Comacina Island

Casa Torre

Casa Torre (Tower House)*

* building totally or partially in ruins

Information

Location: the ruins of the Casa Torre (Tower House) stand on the hillside on the northern shore of the Comacina Island.

Paving: the footpath along the Casa Torre is unsurfaced in that particular section.

Architectural barriers: information on accessibility is available in the description of Stage 2.

Access: it is an archaeological site, it is therefore advisable to observe it from the outside.

Services:

Leisure and food: a bar and a restaurant are available on the Island.

Description

«The best preserved example of the buildings used for housing or public use in the Island is the so-called Tower house. The remains of the Tower house stand 3 meters high. The building is almost square in plan (5×5 m). Approximately one third of the southern wall is cut into the rock, while the other three walls were built of ashlar masonry bonded with mortar. On the eastern side of the building there is a splayed door-jamb and a small slit window. On the lakeside wall there is a second slit window.

Though the structure of the building is very simple, as it was built in order to take advantage of the slope and the rock face, the dating is extremely uncertain. Similar structures have been built almost up to present day. However, the first settlement of the island was probably made between Late Roman times and the twelfth century».

(Drawn from the descriptive panel on site)

Contacts

Antiquarium – Isola Comacina via Somalvico, Ossuccio; Tel. 0344.56369; e-mail info@isola-comacina.it

Read here to know more about Casa Torre:

Comacina Island website – Casa Torre

Prima casa razionalista

Houses for Artists in Rationalist style

Information

Location: the three Houses for Artists in Rationalist Style were built on the northern shore of the Island.

Paving: the footpath running alongside the houses is grassy, paved with flagstones in some points.

Architectural barriers: information on accessibility is available in the description of Stage 5.

Access: it is a private property, it is therefore advisable to observe it from the outside.

Services: in the building of the former monastery of Ss. Faustino e Giovita, there is a public toilet at ground floor.

Food and leisure: a bar and a restaurant are available on the Island.

Description

«The building project for artists’ lodgings on the Island of Comacina dates back to 1920, when the Island, originally donated by Augusto Caprani to King Albert I of Belgium, and subsequently by him to the Italian State, was left in the hands of the Brera Academy.

In 1933 Pietro Lingeri (1894-1968) took charge of the project. The architect from Tremezzo was already known for many projects he had carried out in his this country, including the renovation of the Villa Mayer park and the AMILA (Italian Motorboat Association of Lake Como) head office (1927-31). Three years later, when Italy had just started out on its imperial adventure, the radical modern projects of Lingeri were rejected by the fascist regime. Lingeri studied new solutions, in which functionalism and local tradition could coexist, along the lines of Le Corbusier who had experimented this language some years before.

The final version of the houses saw the light of day between 1937 and 1939. The material execution only took a year, so by the end of 1940 the houses were ready. It’s a functionalist reinterpretation of Lake Como vernacular architecture. Elements of rural architecture – wooden planks or open galleries – coexist with typical elements from the modernist repertory, such as the ribbon windows or the glass block walls. There are three different versions of the same plan: on the ground floor a dinette, kitchen and double study, while on the first floor a bedroom and small bathroom. The walls are built from Moltrasio stone blocks, plastered with lime on the inside and with a glossy stucco in bathrooms and kitchens. The upper floors, the inside stairs, the doors and windows are made from chestnut wood, while the load bearing structure and the roof frame (with reversed pitches and covered with slate) are made of pine wood. The composition, which juxtaposes the stone planes of the walls against the inside volume of wood, is most evident at the points of contact.

The houses have been used by Italian and Belgian artists for short summer stays».

(Drawn from the descriptive panel on site)

Contacts

Antiquarium – Isola Comacina via Somalvico, Ossuccio; Tel. 0344.56369; e-mail info@isola-comacina.it

Read here to know more about Houses for Artists in Rationalist Style:

Comacina Island website – Houses for Artists in Rationalist Style

Carlo Leone et Mariena Montandon Foundation website

 

Villa Rachele e il suo parco

Villa Rachele, formerly Beccaria

Information

This point of interest is not located along the itinerary but can be admired from a  panoramic point at the West end of the Island.

Description

(Silvia Fasana)

On the “puncia” (a local term meaning “point”, peninsula) facing the Comacina Island, in Sala Comacina’s territory, stands a three floor mansion – Villa Rachele, formerly Beccarla – built on three floors between the second half of the 18th century and the first part of the 19th century, on a large semicircular terrace overlooking the lake.

In the surrounding park, based on a plan by architect Giuseppe Balzaretti, enriched by laurels, olive trees, cypress-trees, cedars and magnolias, there rises a moving funerary monument of Marquis Giulio Beccaria (who died in 1858), the son of the famous Cesare and maternal uncle  of Alessandro Manzoni, and of his wife Antonia Curioni (who died in 1866): a small sic column trabeate temple surmounted by a semi-spherical  dome, under which there is a statue of a young woman in prayer, the work of sculptor Bassano Danielli. After the death of Giulio the villa was transferred to Cesare Cantù, scholar and patriot, and his daughter Rachele, the wife of Angelo Villa Pernice, an MP at the first Italian parliament in Florence, who set up a literary salon known as the “Accademia dei pedanti (Academy of the Pedants)”, animated by leading figures of the Italian culture of the time, such as Antonio Fogazzaro, Tommaso Gallarati Scotti and Ettore Verga, historian and director of the Archive of the Sforza Castle in Milan, to name but the most renowned. At the death of Rachele Cantù, the villa was inherited by Rachele Martelli, the wife of Emilio de Marchi, who wrote here “Col fuoco non si scherza (Do not play with fire)” (1901), a novel mostly set in the villa itself, which from then on was named “Villa Rachele”. It is now a private property.

Contacts

Antiquarium – Isola Comacina via Somalvico, Ossuccio; Tel. 0344.56369; e-mail info@isola-comacina.it

Read here to know more about Villa Rachele, formerly Beccaria:

Municipality of Sala Comacina website – Villa Rachele

Lombardia Beni Culturali website – Villa Beccaria