Mandello del Lario

It is lied down on the peninsula at the foot of the Grigne (where there are crests and pinnacles as the Sasso Cavallo, mt.1923 and, in front of it, beyond the Corni di Canzo e Moregallo).

In medieval age the village, situated near the lake, was surrounded by walls with towers and a moat that, in case of emergency, was filled with water and the fortress became a small artificial island; the Via del Fosso (of the ditch) probably folllows the old dam.
Inside the moat there was the church, the tower and the houses. Of the medieval castle remain large massive walls in a house said "the Tower" in the square near the lake. The history of Mandello is rowdy. It formed an alliance with Como during the decennial war and, in 1160, it suffered sacks by the soldiers from Milan.

Therefore it was left to the Visconti, obtained own statutes and was theatre of battles between Veneziani and Viscontei towards the half of the 400, when its defensive system was strengthened. It passed from a lordship to the other until, from the half of the 1500's to the 1788, the town was part of the lordship of the Sfondrati, that guaranteed a period of peace.
In the second half of the 1800's spinning mills rose in Mandello; today there are several industries in the paper, -electric, electromechanical and mechanical field, from 1921 the name of Mandello is, in fact, famous all over the world because here has sate an historical factory of motorcycles: the Guzzi.

From Mandello it is possible to reach, with approximately three hours of walking, the Plan of the Resinelli or, with longer and impegnative ascents, to go up to the Rosalba shelter, the shelter Elisa and the Bietti shelter in Releccio.
The road for the Piano of the Resinelli goes through for the hamlets of Tonzanico and Maggiano, where rises an ancient tower, famous because the Barbarossa, when in the 1154 took the city, has been sheltered here. The road for the Rosalba shelter goes through the hamlet of Ronzio, where there is another medioevale tower.