Thanks to the archaeological findings of "Ca’ Morta", a necropolis, in the hills south of the town Como, it is proved that the territory around Lake Como belonged to the Golasecca civilization, formed of the Ligure population that had already settled here and celtic tribes that arrived from North of the Alps in the X century B.C. A second migration of Celtic tribes from the north took place between VI and V B.C. and they unified with the local population. The expansion of the Romans started and Como was urbanised, in 196 B.C when the Counsellor Claudio Marcello led the Romans to victory against the Comensi and the whole area became part of the Imperial orbit.
Between 59 and 49 B.C. Giulio Cesare (Julius Cesar) founded the city of Como and surrounded it by mighty walls, the remains of which can still be seen today under the main Medieval tower called Porta Torre.
Located on an important trading route, the Via Regia, which united Milan with the nearby Rezia, Como became a flourishing centre for commercial trading and handicraft activity.
In the second half of the XI century Como became a wealthy city and asserted its strategic geographical position which initiated a long period of wars with Milan, a war that ended with the devastation of the city. Only the alliance with Federico Barbarossa (Frederick Redbeard) saved its destiny. Como was rebuilt, newly walled; the Baradello castle was built and became the city’s bulwark.
The Civic Archaeological Museum at Como displays finds from local excavations dating back to the Palaeolithic to the Roman Era along with a rich collection of tombstones.
Interesting archeological sites:
Isola Comacina: On the Island you can see archeological remains from Roman and Medieval times.
We can find two archaeological sites in the province of Lecco: the archaeological area of Piani d'Erna and the archaeological park of Piani di Barra.
At Piani d’Erna there are some remains of a steel processing settlement where the iron mineral, from nearby mines, was reduced to metal and subsequently worked on the spot; the spot was functioning between about 260 B.C. and 60 A.D. Thanks to those remains we can also see that, in order to perform this process, they would use simple and small furnaces made of clay. Usually they were fuelled by coal and wood and could reach in a short time the ideal temperature of 1200 °C to ensure that iron changed from the elementary to the pasty state. This discovery is extremely remarkable because it is the oldest evidence of activity related to the reduction and processing of iron discovered so far in the area.
Some of these finds can be seen in Palazzo Belgiojoso. The Archaeological Museum has eight rooms with relics from all over the Province, from the Medium Palaeolithic period (from 200.000 to 35.000 years ago) to the Middle Ages (V-X century A.C.). among which the Celtic grave instruments from the First and Second Iron Ages (X-I century A.C.) and the early medieval goldsmith works.
The park in Piani di Barra has been involved for several years in archaeological digs that have brought to light a large inhabited centre and an impressive defense system, dating back to the Goth era (V and VI centuries A.D.). A route has been organized so that visitors can see the archaeological remains that have been discovered up until now.
|Province of Lecco - To the discovery of the Monte Barro Park (italian only)||Download PDF 3.62 MB|
|Province of Lecco - Industrial Archaeology in the Lecco area.. and more! (italian only)||Download PDF 4.54 MB|