Brienno

Brienno on lake Como

Brienno is located on the western shore of Lake Como, behind it lays Alpe Comana and Mount Binate; in front of it, on the opposite shore of the lake there is a town of Nesso. Brienno preserves its origins of a medieval village, the stone houses based in the water, the narrow streets barely separating the buildings; beautiful porticos, stairways and underpasses make this place a true gem. The country has Celtic origins, some findings testify to the presence of settlements from the fourth century, then the Roman settlement. In the Middle Ages the town was allied with Barbarossa against Milan in the ten years' war, it became a fief of the Bishop of Como and the Gallio family under the Spanish rule. In July of 2011, a strong flood created considerable damage to the town, whose main asset in the summer months is linked to tourism.

At the entrance of the town welcomes us the ancient church of Saint Anna, one of the oldest of the Lario, as evidenced by the Romanesque bell tower of the eleventh century. A few steps from the shores of the lake, we can admire the church of Saints Nazario and Celso, on the inside there are the paintings by the master Gian Paolo Recchi, two fine stained-glass windows of the sixteenth century and an altarpiece by Andrea de Passeri. In the churchyard we find the War Memorial, a bronze statue of an alpine soldier with a stone in his hand. The scene is reminiscent of a war in Libya episode, where the regiment Morbegno, composed mainly of soldiers natives of these places, surrounded by the enemy, without ammunition to resist, armed themselves with stones and rocks. Near the town cemetery, in a splendid panoramic position, stands the church of the Immaculate Conception, under the square in front of the parish is preserved a fortification of the Cadorna line, built during the First World War. You can still see the bunkers, the tunnels and the service areas.