That branch of the Lake of Como, which turns toward the south
between two unbroken chains of mountains, presenting to the eye a
succession of bays and gulfs, formed by their jutting and retiring
ridges, suddenly contracts itself between a headland to the right
and an extended sloping bank on the left, and assumes the flow and
appearance of a river. The bridge by which the two shores are here
united, appears to render the transformation more apparent, and
marks the point at which the lake ceases, and the Adda recommences,
to resume, however, the name of Lake where the again receding banks
allow the water to expand itself anew into bays and gulfs. The
bank, formed by the deposit of three large mountain streams,
descends from the bases of two contiguous mountains, the one called
St. Martin, the other by a Lombard name, Resegone, from its long
line of summits, which in truth give it the appearance of a saw; so
that there is no one who would not at first sight, especially
viewing it in front, from the ramparts of Milan that face the
north, at once distinguish it in all that extensive range from
other mountains of less name and more ordinary form. The bank, for
a considerable distance, rises with a gentle and continual ascent,
then breaks into hills and hollows, rugged or level land, according
to the formation of the mountain rocks, and the action of the
floods. Its extreme border, intersected by the mountain torrents,
is composed almost entirely of sand and pebbles; the other parts of
fields and vineyards, scattered farms, country seats, and villages,
with here and there a wood which extends up the mountain side.
Lecco, the largest of these villages, and which gives its name to
the district, is situated at no great distance from the bridge,
upon the margin of the lake; nay, often, at the rising of the
waters, is partly embosomed within the lake itself; a large town at
the present day, and likely soon to become a city. At the period of
our story, this village was also fortified, and consequently had
the honour to furnish quarters to a governor, and the advantage of
possessing a permanent garrison of Spanish soldiers, who gave
lessons in modesty to the wives and daughters of the neighbourhood,
and toward the close of summer never failed to scatter themselves
through the vineyards, in order to thin the grapes, and lighten for
the rustics the labours of the vintage. From village to village,
from the heights down to the margin of the lake, there are
innumerable roads and paths: these vary in their character; at
times precipitous, at others level; now sunk and buried between two
ivy-clad walls, from whose depth you can behold nothing but the
sky, or some lofty mountain peak; then crossing high and level
tracts, around the edges of which they sometimes wind, occasionally
projecting beyond the face of the mountain, supported by prominent
masses resembling bastions, whence the eye wanders over the most
varied and delicious landscape. On the one side you behold the blue
lake, with its boundaries broken by various promontories and necks
of land, and reflecting the inverted images of the objects on its
banks; on the other, the Adda, which, flowing beneath the arches of
the bridge, expands into a small lake, then contracts again, and
holds on its clear serpentining course to the distant horizon:
above, are the ponderous masses of the shapeless rocks; beneath,
the richly cultivated acclivity, the fair landscape, the bridge; in
front, the opposite shore of the lake, and beyond this, the
mountain, which bounds the view.
General
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