IN early autumn, Lake Como (Lago Lario or di Como in Italian, Lacus Larius in Latin) looks impenetrable, the water’s surface the colour of liquid onyx. The trees that cling to the lake’s steep limestone and granite banks hold onto the last vestiges of green; many already in a state of transformation, tinged rust red and purple. One morning, I peel back the curtains to find the sky disconcertingly low, clouds immobile, ensnared by jagged mountain tops until the sun builds up enough warmth to burn through them.
The natural lake formed about 10,000 years ago, water filling an inverted Y-shaped groove carved deep into the ground by a glacier. So deep, in fact, that it is Europe’s fifth deepest lake and the deepest outside of Norway (1,345ft at its lowest point).
Lake Como’s location, on an important trade route between the Po and Rhine Valleys, and its subtropical climate attracted the attention of the Romans, who transformed Como, on the southernmost tip, into an economic and manufacturing powerhouse, and the remainder into a popular summer holiday destination. Pliny the Younger (61–113) was born in Como and owned two villas, one in the hills named Tragedy and one next to the water’s edge called Comedy (a nod to theatre convention at the time, which saw actors in tragic roles don high-heeled, lace-up boots and actors in comic roles wear flatter shoes).
Aristocracy, Hollywood royalty and the well heeled (no tragic roles required) still flock to the lake’s shores between May and August, to water ski, sunbathe, socialise and tour the myriad manicured gardens and palatial villas, but more and more visitors can now be spotted in situ long after the official season has ended —a shimmering silver lining to the lockdowns.
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin May 03, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Country Life UK dergisinin May 03, 2023 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Put some graphite in your pencil
Once used for daubing sheep, graphite went on to become as valuable as gold and wrote Keswick's place in history. Harry Pearson inhales that freshly sharpened-pencil smell
Dulce et decorum est
Michael Sandle is the Wilfred Owen of art, with his deeply felt sense of the futility of violence. John McEwen traces the career of this extraordinary artist ahead of his 88th birthday
Heaven is a place on earth
For the women of the Bloomsbury group, their country gardens were places of refuge, reflection and inspiration, as well as a means of keeping loved ones close by, discovers Deborah Nicholls-Lee
It's the plants, stupid
I WON my first prize for gardening when I was nine years old at prep school. My grandmother was delighted-it was she who had sent me the seeds of godetia, eschscholtzia and Virginia stock that secured my victory.
Pretty as a picture
The proliferation of honey-coloured stone cottages is part of what makes the Cotswolds so beguiling. Here, we pick some of our favourites currently on the market
How golden was my valley
These four magnificent Cotswold properties enjoy splendid views of hill and dale
The fire within
An occasionally deadly dinner-party addition, this perennial plant would become the first condiment produced by Heinz
Sweet chamomile, good times never seemed so good
Its dainty white flowers add sunshine to the garden and countryside; it will withstand drought and create a sweet-scented lawn that never needs mowing. What's not to love about chamomile
All I need is the air that I breathe
As the 250th anniversary of 'a new pure air' approaches, Cathryn Spence reflects on the 'furious free-thinker' and polymath who discovered oxygen
My art is in the garden
Monet and Turner supplied the colours, Canaletto the structure and Klimt the patterns for the Boodles National Gallery garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.