“I love these cement tiles! Are they original?"

"I'm looking for a house with original stone, it's a raw visual element that creates the country atmosphere I've always been looking for!”

These are just some of the phrases we most often hear from our clients during the viewings at our properties for sale on Lake Como, Italy.

Here at Lakeside we’ve always had a thing for all homes with a strong soul and personality, and most of the time that identity is clearly expressed in the choice of specific architectural elements, building materials and finishes.

The construction materials of a property are much more than simple aesthetic or functional elements: we like to say they’re distinct voices that tell the story and the deep identity of each house, especially when it comes to period buildings or traditional townhouses. We’re talking about those materials “from the past”, recognizable at first sight in their ancient beauty that smells of handmade.

And then there are the emotions that many materials are able to convey through senses like touch, sight, hearing. Two examples above all: have you ever tried to walk on an antique hardwood floor in some late 19th century property, with its unmistakable creaking? And again: what effect does it have on you to enter a living room with elegant terracotta flooring?

Materiality is as important as form, function and place, or rather, inseparable from all three.

If you’re looking for a truly authentic property at Lake Como, with 100% original features, you need to know what the local building materials are: they are part of the culture and history of our region, and - being representatives of our territory - we have the duty to preserve them.

Not to mention that, in case you’re interested in a new construction, using local materials is a choice of great responsibility as it significantly reduces the environmental impact.

Renovating in Italy: all you need to know

In this article we’ve prepared for you a quick roundup of the 14 most common local materials you can find on our properties - we do hope they will become part of your vocabulary!

Ready for this leap into the past?

Cotto lombardo

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the most sought-after floor ever: cotto lombardo.

This incredible terracotta floor was mostly used between the XVI and XX century in churches and period palaces. But why is this clay tile floor so special? Because of the simultaneous presence of two clays of different compositions, which after firing show very distinct red-orange and straw-white colors. This interplay of lines and colors is achieved through special mixing techniques. The different types of veinings are due to the fact that each craftsman had his own handling and shaping technique. This is why each floor is defined as a 100% unique piece. So… be careful where you walk on, you might step into a masterpiece!

White marble from Musso

If you follow our lovely weekly newsletter you should already know this fun fact: Musso, one of the tiny quaint villages along the north-west coast of Lake Como, boasts its unique, locally-sourced marble!

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This material is featured by a white/grey hue that makes it look pretty similar to Carrara marble. An example of its use can be found in the awesome Duomo of Como.

Today the old cave in Musso hosts the terrific “Giardini del Merlo”, a superb panoramic garden with an incredible wealth of exotic plants.

Black marble from Olcio

This special black marble is an extremely fine-grained limestone (technically called “micrite"), featuring an intense black color and a very compact touch.

The quarries are located upstream of Varenna between Olcio, Lierna and Perledo, eastern shore of Lake Como.

Due to its black color, this marble has always been used in small elements like frames, moldings or rounds, often in chromatic contrast with white marble coverings.

"Pietra Molera”

This gray-yellow sandstone is typical of the area around Como (Camerlata and Rebbio). In the past it was mainly used for decorative motifs.

Fun fact: the ancient Camerlata quarry was recently opened to tourists!

Serizzo

Pretty similar to granite, serizzo is typical of the Valtellina region; the famous “serizzo ghiandone” comes from Sondrio. On Lake Como, in particular, serizzo derives from the so-called "erratic boulders", huge blocks of rock transported to the valley floor by glaciers.

It was once used extensively for tiles, flooring and decorative basins (one example above all: the one inside the stunning Santa Maria del Tiglio church in Gravedona).

Explore Gravedona village with our handy infographic!

Moltrasio stone

In the past, the limestone stone of Moltrasio was mostly used for structural masonry works, but over the years it has become the protagonist of most of the properties on the lake and neighboring villages. You can see it both externally and internally, for furnishing accessories.

All about the stone quarries in Moltrasio

Fun fact 1: the Faggeto Lario quarry is the only Moltrasina stone quarry active today on Lake Como.

Fun fact 2: an alternative to this stone in the past was the so called “pietra di Claino” (Valle Intelvi), used for its ease of processing but then slowly fallen into disuse as it tended to turn gray over time.

Discover Claino, "the painted hamlet”

Valmalenco stone

This stone on the shades of green is known as “pietra ollare”. The word “ollare” comes from the word oil, because this particular stone contains a little bit of it, in fact in ancient times it was also used to… cook food. Yes, you got it right: a similar pot (specifically called “lavecc” in local dialect) is just perfect to cook meat or fish without using butter, oil or other fats.

But let's go back to our building-related things: the Valmalenco stone is cut into thin slabs, the so-called "piode" or "lose" and used mainly for roofs and external paving.

Sasso Ruggine (“rust stone”)

This is a typical stone from San Siro, near Menaggio (Central Lake Como), harvested near the lake and featuring slightly red (iron) veinings.

Explore San Siro at Lake Como

It’s mainly used for dry stone walls, for house facades and for decorative outdoor tubs (manually carved from stone). It’s a non-workable stone, so it has always been used as it is in its original shape and appearance, in all its raw simplicity.

Travertino

Largely used in the ‘50s, travertine is a sedimentary rock formed from a deposit of limestone. Due to the oxides incorporated during its formation, it gets a color ranging from white to beige and brown and reddish.

Considered the favorite marble for floor coverings (as it’s not subject to the signs of wear), it can be used in every room of the house, both indoors and outdoors: in the bathroom, for example, it can be an ideal solution for washbasins and showers as it is water-repellent, as well as for swimming pool coverings. In the past it was used especially for windows frames and internal staircases.

Thanks to its high resistance to heat and signs of wear, it can be used in kitchens and as a chimney lining.

Fun fact: travertino has been widely used in the luxurious Hotel Sereno in Torno.

“Risciulàda”, river stone

You’ll surely have noticed it in the cobblestones, in the courtyards, on the landings of our houses: in our local dialect we call it “risciulàda", and it’s a medium-small round stone that comes from local streams/rivers. In the past, before the advent of concrete, it was grouted with simple earth.

Terracotta “coppi” (roof tiles)

coppi antichi — Source: antichimanufatti.it

In the past, the roofs were made with terracotta bowls handcrafted at Galli furnace in Grandola ed Uniti, near Val Sanagra. The furnace, today disused, was a significant production center, and many buildings in the surrounding areas exploited the bricks produced there.

Today these original tiles can be seen on the roofs of some old rustic properties or as decorative elements in taverns and cellars.

Cement tiles (“cementine”)

Often covered by laminates, heavy parquet or dusty carpets added over the years in hasty modernization attempts, the cement tiles (“cementine”) have now been rediscovered in all their delicate beauty.

For us, they’re one of the most iconic decorative elements you can find in an Italian home: here at Lakeside we are big supporter of this handcrafted flooring, and we strongly recommend all our clients to opt for conservative restorations that respect and honor these tiles.

Jump to the listing of this property for sale in Colonno!

Cement tiles are square or hexagonal tiles that were used in noble houses as a coating for internal and external floors. They were produced with a mixture of water and white cement, to which marble dust, hard minerals and natural dyes were also added; they were treated with linseed oil to make them stain resistant.

The decorative motifs of cementine are still divided today into "geometric" and "floral", according to the two dominant cultural trends: the liberty one (1910/20), in Italy more properly called "floral", and the futurist one (1930/40) which prefers movements, geometries and optical patterns.

Cement tiles appeared at the end of the 19th century with the increase in cement production due to the industrial revolution. The cement floor has been inserted in buildings since the early 1900s, when the great Italian cities began to host emigrants from Southern Italy and the need arose to quickly build countless storey buildings. In fact, the cement tiles offered a fast and economical floor, thus offering the possibility for all families to embellish their home without spending too much.

“Graniglia” (grit)

Known throughout the world with different names (“terrazzo tiles", “baldosa"), grit (or "marmetta") is one of the first materials created thanks to the recycling of waste from marble and stone processing, bound with cement, colored with natural oxides and mixed with water.

It’s not a 100% local material of Lake Como (it seems to have been born in the Marche region), but here in our area you can spot it in many townhouses.

Not to be confused with the “pastina", which we could define the parent of the grit: very common in many buildings between the 19th and 20th century, it’s characterized by a much finer grinding of marble.

Old hardwood floors… that creak!

Our local hardwood floors are generally in larch or pine, both strongly resistant wood.

If the old parquet creaks, most likely the cause is to be found in the installation. In fact, once upon a time it was a common practice to lay the wood on a sand substrate without stopping the boards: as a result, the pressure of the footsteps over the beads causes the beads to move and the resulting (pretty fascinating) creak.

Article by Laura Zanotta

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14 Local Materials You Need To Know If You Look For Authenticity in Lake Como Properties For Sale