4 Precious Old Photos of Lake Como That Tell A Lot About Our Local History
“A picture is worth a thousand words”
If you know us a little bit you know how obsessed we are with storytelling (not to mention the one about properties): few things on earth are more powerful than a good story, isn’t it?
If you like the unique, dusty charme of old photos and the silent stories they’re able to tell, you can’t miss these 4 pics we have selected for your today: they tell powerful stories about the past of Lake Como.
Ready for this journey back in time?
#1 - The old railway of Menaggio
Do you recognize this corner of Menaggio? Today there’s the ferry station there, and the Agricultural Consortium. We’re at the end of Via IV Novembre (where our headquarter is!), where once there was the the railway line between Menaggio and Porlezza.
Inaugurated in 1884, the railway was born with the aim of increasing the tourism of northern Europe towards the lakes region: arriving by train in Lugano, the passengers continued with the steamer to Porlezza and from there, by train, to Menaggio. Between the two world wars, the railway line was used as a local transport system, especially for the transport of woods of Monte Galbiga.
In the twenties of the 20th century, the Government still granted subsidies to railway stations, but later this income was missing and the railway in Menaggio started its agony. The autarchic policy in force in the thirties, in particular, required the feeding of locomotives with peat to replace coal, leading to a further increase in prices.
With ministerial authorization, on 31 October 1939 the operation on the Menaggio-Porlezza railway ceased, to be then closed in 1966.
Today the station has been turned into a stylish residence.
#2 - The porches in Rezzonico: the life around the wharf
In the past in Rezzonico, a spectacular medieval hamlet in San Siro, if you went near the wharf of the village you could hear a special sound called in local dialect "el risciün": a term used to indicate the sound of the backwash of the lake mixed with the background of the voices of the women washing clothes along the shore.
© Lakeside
Many years ago indeed, the 200 inhabitants of Rezzonico lived mainly on fishing.
The stunning porches were the heart of the village: fishermen who cleaned their fish and unraveled the nets, traders who loaded and unloaded the barges, woman did their laundry on the shore, men who arranged the boats, children playing, people always moving around. A lively and colorful chaos!
© Lakeside
#3 - Falck ironworks
"It’s here, in the ironworks, that almost all the Donghesi will sweat the daily fatigue and it’s here that a country, knowingly, will link its destiny to the work of those people."
[Giancarlo Della Fonte in Dongo 1892-2003]
© Lakeside
Pino and Bianca worked at Falck ironworks in Dongo in the ‘50s.
Since the 15th century, the main economic resource of Dongo was the exploitation of iron deposits in Valle Dogana, with the construction of blast furnaces and buildings to melt and work the metal. During the 19th century, Falck ironworks became the most important economic resource of the Northern Lake.
Falck literally punctuated Dongo's life: shops and school hours were modulated on those of the factory, and the local market was held on payday. The children often entered the ironworks when their father retired. The days - very hard - of the workers like Pino and Bianca were marked by tough shifts in the factory.
Between the 50’s and 70’s, Falck had reached almost a thousand workers. In 1971, at the moment of maximum employment, Falck employed 2.200 employees in a country with 3.500 people, including the elderly and children. Shortly after, in the mid-’70s, the crisis began: competition from Korea and Taiwan made labor costs unsustainable, the steel crisis and the simultaneous birth of public heavy industry drowned the Lombard industrial giant.
Falck was way more than a ironworks. As told in the photographic book “Radici di ferro - Dongo, la ferriera, il territorio" (Silvana Editoriale, curated by Paolo Massimiliano Gagliardi and Paolo Mazzo):
"Mamma Falck", that’s how the locals called Falck, because not only had she given work to everyone, rescuing people from atavistic misery, but she had brought the Montessori kindergarten, the school for the workers inside the factory, the houses given to retirees and the land to build for the others, the climatic stays for the sick, the rowing company that cultivated 12 Olympic champions among the ranks of the workers.
#4 - Rolls Royce coupé
Source: www.fotovasconi.it
This one is super cool: we found it on photographer Piero Vasconi online catalogue of period photos (a truly precious archive you should really have a look at!).
It’s 1932 and we are at Villa Olmo in Como: Piero Vasconi portrays a Rolls-Royce coupé that took part in the IV International Competition of Elegance Auto - for the Gold Cup Villa d'Este, called par excellence "the classic Italian competition". As you probably know, this competition was established in 1929 and still today it’s the world’s most famous kermesse of prestigious and luxury period cars from all around the globe.
In this photo, the car is ready for the parade, before being judged by a strict and attentive international jury.
Fun detail: the car owner is sitting strangely close to his driver, violating so informally every etiquette rule!
Article by Laura Zanotta
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