The olympic flame’s magic travels through Lake Como’s lake-front towns
The journey of the Olympic flame is an emotion-packed one which invites us to think about the values underlying sport: respect and loyalty, passion and hardwork. It is a symbol which conjures up the most authentic meaning of the Games, the flame which burned constantly at the altar of the temples to the gods in the city of Olympia, during the whole period of the Games. This emblem of holiness and purity, the Olympic flame, has already journeyed through the towns on Lake Como. On the first of February the torchbearers passed through Varenna, Menaggio and Bellagio and, on the 3rd, they went to Cernobbio and Como on an itinerary which is a metaphor of the dissemination of sport’s values. For the towns the flame passes through expectations are growing every day and preparations are underway to ensure this special date goes smoothly.
Varenna
“We decided to keep our Christmas lights up, taking the more specific decorations down and putting up Olympic flames to shine the spotlight on the event,” said Varenna’s mayor, Mauro Manzoni. “We hope that the many visitors who go through the area to the race locations or want to visit the lake will come to visit Varenna and Villa Cipressi and Villa Monastero, in particular. We’re happy to be in the area of this international ritual which will benefit the whole Lake Como area, as well as showcasing the towns directly involved in it. We also hope that, with this event, people who know the lake by reputation or via social media will stop off here and that it’ll be an opportunity for them to explore and get to know it better.” The shared feeling is that what is about to happen has something extraordinary about it.
Menaggio
“It was an honour for us to host this, a once-in-a-lifetime event in the town’s history,” said Menaggio’s mayor Michele Spaggiari. “It’s a huge thrill: we got our sports’ clubs involved, with athletes and managers in uniform, as well as the voluntary associations which acted as a human chain, taking the torch along the historic centre’s streets, while the general public enjoyed the sight of it passing through. The Olympic torch visited our town’s symbol places: Piazza Garibaldi, the quay, the parish church and Via Calvi.”
SILVIA CORBETTA: TEDOFORA A MENAGGIO
It might be said that it was the Olympic flame that chose Silvia Corbetta, school teacher and sport trainer at the Asd 5 Cerchi Atletica Seregno club, not the other way around: “I decided to apply and was selected to be one of the Menaggio torchbearers. It was an amazing thrill, partly because the town atmosphere was so festive.”
Cernobbio
Cernobbio’s mayor, Matteo Monti, was equally satisfied: “The flame travelled through the historic centre, from Piazza Belinzaghi to Piazza Risorgimento, and then continued across the lake on a boat,” said Cernobbio’s first citizen. To celebrate this thrilling moment we set up a procession starting from Largo Filippo Mondelli, named after this rowing champion who died in 2021 and a symbol of enthusiasm, passion and dedication, and ending in Piazza Risorgimento. Children and young people, schools and associations took part in the procession, together with the town’s authorities. It was a one-of-a-kind occasion for our town and transformed this international event into an opportunity for community-building between families and schools, highlighting sport’s ability to channel positive values based on respect, loyalty and friendship. We also hope that some of the children watching this magical torchbearing event today will themselves, in a few years, be centre-stage players in great sporting accomplishments.”
The lake bids farewell to the torch
The Olympic torch relay on Italy’s great lakes came to an end on 3 February. For the final stage on Lake Como, the municipalities of Cernobbio and Como were chosen as an exceptional setting. Carrying the Olympic flame was one of Navigazione Laghi’s undisputed flagships: the paddle steamer Concordia, which this year celebrates the important milestone of 100 years of history.
