Limonta

Limonta - Oliveto Lario

Limonta is the first town on the road leading out of Bellagio towards Lecco, the warm sunny climate favours the cultivation of both grapes and olives. In the past, the town was famous for its expert craftsmen who carved objects in olive wood, as well as for its quarries, which produced chalk and fine black marble. A commemorative plaque on the ancient church of San Rocco informs us that it was here that the author Tommaso Grossi set several chapters of his historical novel "Marco Visconti", written in 1834.

In 835 AD, the Holy Roman Emperor Lothar (795-855 AD), grandson of Charlemagne, gave Limonta, along with Civenna, part of Valassina, and Campione d'Italia, to the Abbot of Milan’s Sant'Ambrogio monastery. Later, in 1797, after almost a thousand years of Milanese rule, the arrival of Napoleon saw the towns annexed to the Cisalpine Republic. Since 1927, Limonta, Vassena and Onno have all belonged to the municipality of Oliveto Lario.

The centre of the village is in Limonta Alta, where the church of Santi Bernardo e Ambrogio is situated. This single nave church of medieval origin contains two noteworthy works of art: a 15th century polyptych showing the four evangelists and a 16th century Madonna with Child attributed to a pupil of Titian. Also of interest is the small Romanesque church of San Dionigi, which contains a ceramic sculpture by the artist Pablo Atchugarry, and the sanctuary of Madonna del Moletto, built in 1606 by the side of the lake, whose vault is decorated with 17th century frescoes by Giovanni Paolo Recchi.