An ancient castle perched above Varenna, with views ranging over the whole lake – both its Lecco and Como branches – taking in nature, art and medieval history
Vezio castle is a medieval castle perched over Como lakeside town Varenna. Dating back to the 11th century, the castle has been rebuilt several times over the centuries and is now in private hands, but it is open to the public for much of the year.
The views from the top take in practically the whole of the lake, both its Lecco and Como branches. Just inside the entranceway an uphill path leads to a picnic and play park area and straight on, along the north side of the castle and its great larch trees, is the Fantasia di Ortensie garden, a hydrangea and creeping flower garden which pays homage to the great gardens of lake Como’s most attractive lakeside villas and their hydrangeas. Further on you come to the Fantasmi di Vezio – Vezio ghosts – white sculptures made every summer thanks to tourists who volunteer to be wrapped in gauze and clay and remain immobile for about an hour to pose for these, after which the sculptures are taken out and kept at the castle until winter snow destroys them. Next comes a staircase flanked by aromatic herb beds (Il Giardino dei Semplici, a mini tribute to the medicinal plants grown at monasteries and convents across medieval Italy) and what is known as Prato dry, an experimental meadow made up of plants requiring only minimal water and maintenance. Finally, there’s an olive garden. A large doorway takes you inside the walls which surround the tower, up a flight of stairs and across a drawbridge to the tower, with its breathtaking views.
Lariosaurus, the Loch Ness monster’s ‘cousin’ lived here
Inside the walls of Vezio castle you can retrace the area’s history chronologically, from prehistory right through to the Middle Ages, including via a permanent exhibition on the Lauriosaurus (a medium-sized, up to one-metre-long reptile which belonged to the now-extinct aquatic nothosaurus family which lived in salt-water lagoons or coastal waters) which includes casts of the various dinosaur remains found in the Perledo and Varese areas and elsewhere in the world. Like Loch Ness in Scotland, Lake Lecco has its very own monster legend, Nessie’s cousin, a sort of dragon or huge snake which pokes its head above the lake’s waters from time to time. It all began in 1946 when a pair of Como hunters described seeing a ten-metre-long monster with reddish scales all over its body from the Pian di Spagna nature reserve. In 1954 a number of fishermen reported seeing a strange, around 80-cm-long animal swimming in the water near Argegno with a rounded snout and lower body and webbed feet.
Three years later, in 1957, a sighting of a monstrous animal between Dongo and Musso was even confirmed by certain biologists who went down deep into the lake in a Bathysphere a month later and testified to having seen a strange animal with an elongated head like that of a crocodile.
The most recent sighting dates to 2003 when certain fishermen reported seeing a around ten-metre-long aquatic animal resembling an eel in the Lecco branch of the lake. Over the years the Lauriosaurus legend has inspired the work of various artists, such as Davide Van De Sfroos and Carlo Lucarelli.
