Maggiana is an hamlet of Mandello del Lario, on Lake Como, whose historical structure of the village develops around the ancient medieval tower, known as the Tower of Federico Barbarossa, as it was the emperor’s residence.
The Barbarossa Tower has a square shape, it is high 40 fathoms and wide 10. In the walls we can find ogival windows alternated with slits. You can enter in the Tower by a large doo, once decorated with frescoes, leading into a courtyard from which you can go upstairs until the last floor.
Around 1800, the ownership of the Tower went to Francesco Alippi who, proud of the ownership of a historical monument, renovated it, decorating the top of a terrace.
Nowadays, the Barbarossa Tower is a museum, established by the local association “Gruppo Amici di Maggiana” (GAMAG), that you can visit only on reservation and during the medieval themed festival “La Torre in Festa”, with attendees in costume, taking place every year in June.
For further information, please visit www.museotorremaggiana.it.
From the top of the Tower of Barbarossa the view stretches from Mandello del Lario and Lake Como to Bellagio. The village of Maggiana is another village that you can visit in the area. The hamlet of Maggiana has an hand-carved washtub, where the housewifes can still today wash their clothes in the main tub.
Photo by Carlo Borlenghi, that we wish thank.
