Colonno
Along the Via Regina, between Argegno and the Punta Balbianello, at the foot of Monte Costone, is the picturesque little village of Colonno which is reflected in the waters of the lake. This area is called “Zoca de l’oli”, that is the “oil basin”, because the waters of the lake are usually as smooth as oil.
The village has ancient origins. In medieval times it was part of the Parish of the Isola Comacina, and so it shared the same fate as the island in the long war between Como and Milan. Once it was inhabited by fishermen and farmers.
It has conserved a typically medieval architectural structure, with each house leaning against the next one. Behind the village, on the slopes of the mountain one can see the terracing and walls built in the past to enable the cultivation of the “fragrant herbs”, which the inhabitants would sell along with fish and fresh dairy products to peddlers who went around the province with a basket on their backs. Nowadays the village’s economy is based mainly on business and tourism. The village is crossed by the Valle di Sala stream, which the locals call the “Pesetta”. On the stream just outside the village is a bridge house which preserves the memory of a flood which occurred in 1905. The noteworthy waterfall of the Camogge is located near Colonno along the Via Regina.
SIGHTS:
The Church of San Michele
The ruins of the original Romanesque bell tower attest to the old age of the building. Inside the church there are some frescoes from the fourteenth century.
