Laveno - The city of Christmas lights
Let's see together the wonderful surprises that this trip reserves for us.
Last Wednesday I was, for work, in Northern Italy, in a small village called Laveno, on the border with Switzerland.
I want to tell you about this experience because this small town is very special and has many typical traditions that surprised me.
Laveno-Mombello (Lavén Mumbèl in Varese dialect) is an Italian town of 8 405 inhabitants in the province of Varese in Lombardy.
The municipality, located on the shores of Lake Maggiore.
It is one of the major ports of call on the lake: in addition to the tourist port, there is a landing stage from which ferries transporting cars to Verbania-Intra depart all year round.
The town center is located in a large natural bay, facing Verbania-Intra. At the northern and southern extremities of the gulf there are two forts. On the north hill is the Garibaldi fort, surrounded by a park.
To the east, just above the town, is the imposing Mount Sasso del Ferro. By means of a basket trail you get to the top of the mountain, from which you can enjoy a view that sweeps over the lake and the pre-Alps, up to Milan.
In the municipality there are traces of historical settlement since ancient times: in Mombello, in fact, there are traces of stilts dating back to 3000 BC.
The name Laveno derives from that of the Roman commander Tito Labieno, who had his camp here and who had a clash with the Gauls on the hill of Mombello; from here the name Mombello would also come, that is hill of the battle in Latin (mons belli).
In medieval times it was a village inhabited by fishermen. The most important noble families linked to Laveno were the Visconti and the Borromeo, to whom the territory was fief, the Tinelli di Gorla, the Guililoni counts and the Sessa de Ceresolo, owners of the Ceresolo in Cerro hamlet. From the nineteenth century onwards it housed the famous ceramic factories, among the largest in Europe.
The factories, now closed, have nevertheless given rise to a museum of ceramics, one of the most interesting museums in the city.
The municipality of Laveno-Mombello was created in 1927 from the merger of the municipalities of Cerro Lago Maggiore, Laveno and Mombello Lago Maggiore.
Here you can see two wonderful photos of the lake during the day, we had lunch outside, despite the low temperature to enjoy the wonderful panorama.
Laveno has been a famous center for the production of ceramics since the 19th century. The major factories have closed their business for a few years.
There is a museum on the history of ceramics located on the lakefront, in the hamlet of Cerro, and also see the volume by Giuseppe Musumeci and Luciano Paoli "Laveno and its ceramics: over a century of history", Marwan editions, Mesenzana 1994. Currently the he Lavenese industry has developed in the field of paper mills.
The industrial area of Laveno today hosts several small and medium-sized companies in the manufacturing and engineering sector.
The economy is heavily based on tourist activities, especially in the summer season; Ferragosto Lavenese attracts thousands of people to the Lungo Lago every year who flock to follow the fireworks display.
Here we begin our journey into the city at night, when everything comes alive with special colors: those of the Christmas lights .. which are truly wonderful.
I have never seen so many Christmas decorations in a small town, this is the main feature of Laveno that makes it a small tourist destination.
We see a public park, all set up with colored lights and luminous statues.
Colors, sounds and smells that completely immerse us in the Christmas atmosphere.
Really beautiful, unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, because I didn't expect to find so much beauty in a small village ... I took pictures with the phone and the result is still good, even if at night the photos are quite bad.
This park was built with 500,000 low-consumption LED Christmas lights, which can be visited by purchasing a special entrance ticket.
Laveno Mombello is one of the most evocative centers in the province of Varese. Located on the eastern shore of Lake Maggiore, at the foot of Mount Sasso del Ferro, it is divided into three areas: Laveno, the heart of the town, and the hamlets of Mombello and Cerro.
We had dinner in a really delicious "come a casa" typical restaurant, the dish you see is ossobuco alla milanese, a typical meat-based recipe that is really worth trying.
This dish is served with a rice cake or with polenta.
Inside, too, the places have lots of lights, and are elegantly decorated with a Christmas theme.
Here a beautiful piano made with lights, a luminous sculpture that impressed me a lot.
Finally we see a very particular thing of this city: the submerged nativity scene, an entire representation of the nativity scene immersed in the water of Lake Maggiore.
The "Friends of the submerged nativity scene" Association pursues the aim of continuing the tradition of setting up the submerged nativity scene of Laveno Mombello, highlighting its religious, historical-artistic, folkloristic and technical aspects.
During the Christmas period, especially on the weekends of December, the "Friends of the Submerged Nativity" welcome you in the magical setting of Piazza Caduti del Lavoro, on the shores of Lake Maggiore in Laveno Mombello, festively decorated, to admire the Nativity scene, offering you also excellent mulled wine or hot chocolate.
From year to year we try to renew ourselves and innovate: usually you can find an exhibition / sale of cribs from around the world in collaboration with the PIME Center in Milan, as well as souvenir objects, such as the now traditional commemorative plate that is different every year, the souvenir jug or the book published on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the submerged nativity scene, in which, in addition to its history, particular anecdotes and explanations are told, sometimes not known.
The afternoons of public holidays are also enlivened by musical groups, which entertain young and old with songs and repertoires of the popular Christmas tradition.
i took these informations from the official site of the project: https://www.presepesommerso.it.
Thanks for your reading, if you liked my post you are free to upvote and follow me at @will91.
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ceramic vases are very nice, maybe I should come here;) It’s not that far away from Germany:) a cool christmas edition:)
Yes you should come if you like it.
It's a very particular place... You will love it :D
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A place I had never heard of but beautiful! The Christmas lights are fantastic ... I had never seen the nativity scene immersed in water before