The Grand Tour in Lecco. That branch of Lake Como narrated and illustrated

Lecco and its territory told through the eyes of those who have crossed them over the centuries. This is the leitmotif of "The Grand Tour in Lecco. That branch of Lake Como narrated and illustrated" (in italian "Il Grand Tour a Lecco. Quel ramo del lago di Como narrato e illustrato"), the volume by Pietro Dettamanti published by Cinquesensi, the result of a long research dedicated to the history of the journey on the eastern branch of Lake Como.

In its 240 pages, the book collects testimonies of foreign travellers who describe Lecco and its Riviera from the second half of the sixteenth century to the fifties of the twentieth century. 

 

Alongside famous protagonists of European and American culture, such as Stendhal, John Ruskin and Mark Twain, there is space for lesser-known figures who have left impressions, observations and curiosities about the area in their diaries and reports.

Part of the proposed material is little known and includes texts presented and translated for the first time, thus offering an original perspective on the progressive construction of the image of Lecco and its landscape in the eyes of visitors from abroad.

 

The story told by Dettamanti also follows the evolution of the city of Lecco within European travel itineraries. For centuries Lecco remained in fact a military stronghold and a market center enclosed within its walls, substantially on the margins of the main routes of the Grand Tour.

The situation changed at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the opening of the Stelvio and Spluga roads included the city in an increasingly important network of connections between Lombardy and the rest of Europe. In the same period, the romantic taste transformed Lake Como into one of the most popular Italian destinations for Travellers from beyond the Alps.
To definitively consolidate Lecco's international fame, however, literature intervenes. The European success of Alessandro Manzoni's "The Betrothed" brings new visitors to the shores of the lake and gives rise to a particular form of literary tourism, fueled by the desire to recognize landscapes, places and atmospheres associated with the events of Renzo and Lucia.

The book thus reconstructs not only a history of the journey, but also the way in which the Lecco landscape is observed, interpreted and progressively transformed into cultural imagery. Reports, testimonies and illustrations allow us to follow the evolution of visitors' gaze and to understand how Manzoni's branch of Lake Como entered the sentimental and literary geography of generations of Travellers.

A scholar of the history of travel in Italy, Pietro Dettamanti is a member of CIRVI - Interuniversity Center for Research on Travel in Italy and has long dedicated much of his research to Lake Como. He also chairs the "Giuseppe Bovara" Association of Lecco, which edits the journal Archivi di Lecco e della Provincia. His previous publications include 'Journey to Lake Como. Writers and Travellers of the nineteenth century on the Lario', 'Foreign Travellers in the History of Brianza', 'Carlo Amoretti, Journey to Valsassina' and 'Carlo Amoretti, Journey to the lakes of Como and Maggiore'.
"The Grand Tour in Lecco. That branch of Lake Como narrated and illustrated" is published by Cinquesensi in the non-fiction series, and is available in traditional bookstores and online.