Walk from Menaggio's lakefront to the hamlet of Castello following in the footsteps of great painters, writers and filmmakers
Event information
Tenth stage of the "Lake Como Walking Festival," a grand tour in 15 creative walks on the theme of "Romantic Lario," carried out as part of the Park activities "From Pliny to Volta. Journey in the Humanities," led by the Alessandro Volta Foundation. The event is promoted by the Municipality of Menaggio and curated by the Sentiero dei Sogni association.
Meet at 3:30 p.m. at 21 Via IV Novembre (intersection with Via Mazzini), in the small square in front of Hotel Bellavista, near the stone pier from which William Turner painted one of the first watercolors of Italy on his 1819 trip. The 2.3-kilometer loop route runs between the lakefront and the hamlet of Castello and will end around 6:45 p.m. These are the stopping points/visiting places and the characters connected to them, whose stories will be told and/or excerpts from their works will be read:
the stone pier at the confluence of Via IV Novembre and Via Mazzini -William Turner and Franz Kafka, who landed in Menaggio at the nearby, and then functioning, train station
Church of Santa Marta - reading from Paolo Giovio's 1537 description of Menaggio
St. Stephen's church-viewing Bernardino Luini's copy of the Madonna of Menaggio and telling why the original ended up in the Louvre
fountain on Via Castellino da Castello No. 18 where Carlo Verdone shot two scenes in the film "Il mio peggior nemico" to talk about Menaggio in cinema
church of St. Charles (former Menaggio Castle, open for the occasion) - we will recount the role played by Menaggio's Castellino da Castello alongside St. Charles Borromeo in promoting the Counter-Reformation and, above all, educating the people of Lombardy
Caravaggio Bridge - aedicule dedicated to the patron of bridges St. John Napomucene painted by artist Enrico Vannuccini
cemetery - grave and history (and/or legend) of Olga Nikolaevna Romanova, who claimed in life and had it written on her tombstone that she was the daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
monument to the weaver by Francesco Somaini - readings by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mary Shelley (on Menaggio and also on Larian silk)
Introduction/ welcome by Valentina Pozzi, councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Menaggio. Walking narration by Pietro Berra, journalist, writer and poet. Readings by Lorena Mantovanelli, actress. One of the books from which the readings will be taken, "Lago di Como Grand Tour" (edited by Pietro Berra, Sentiero dei Sogni Editions, 2021), featured the collaboration of students from the "Vanoni" High School in Menaggio.
