Rogaro

The ancient village of Rogaro

The hamlet of Rogaro is suspended on a plateau looking down onto the Tremezzina lakefront, in a splendid panoramic position in the central part of Lake Como. The ancient rural houses around the church of Santa Maria form a village of rare beauty. The eighteenth-century style of the buildings is reminiscent of some Venetian squares, where time seems to have stopped. All around you can admire well-tended lawns, flowers, fig trees and olive and lemon trees which in this microclimate, more Mediterranean than Alpine, have the ideal environment to grow luxuriantly.

The small church of Santa Maria houses the beautiful Black Madonna, a wooden statue inspired by the miraculous Madonna of Einsiedlen in Switzerland. Legend has it that the statue was brought to Italy in the sixteenth century by a family of Swiss Catholics, fleeing Protestant persecution, but more in-depth research has ascertained that it is a valuable copy made around the eighteenth-century.

Not far from the village stands the Viscontea Tower, a watchtower of medieval origin used also for communication, that is part of the defensive system of the Comacina island. The ancient building gives one of the most beautiful and evocative views of Lake Como as to the east you can admire the Bellagio peninsula in the center of Lake Como and to the south, the town of Lenno lying on the Gulf of Venus.

From Tremezzo you can reach the village of Rogaro and the Viscontea Tower by going up the paved road of ‘Via alle Selve’ which begins next to the church of San Bartolomeo, a few steps from the port and the shore of Lake Como. After passing a group of villas, the paved road becomes a path that climbs steeply into the woods. After a short stretch a turn to the right will lead to the Medieval Tower while on the left it will continue the climb up towards the village of Rogaro and the church of Santa Maria, an easy excursion suitable for everyone.