Lecco

Lecco is an Italian town and province, set in Lombardy at 50 kilometres north of Milan; it borders a branch of the Lake of Como (named Lake of Lecco) on the west and the Lombard Alps on the east.

The lake tightens and forms the river Adda, so bridges were built to improve road communications with Como and Milan. There are three bridges crossing the river Adda in Lecco: the Azzone Visconti Bridge (1336-1338), the Kennedy Bridge (1956) and the Alessandro Manzoni Bridge (1985).

On January 1, 2001 Lecco had 45,827 inhabitants (21,799 male and 45,827 female). (Source: ISTAT)

Its economy used to be based on industry (iron manifacturers), but now it is based mainly on tertiary.

Alessandro Manzoni set the events in the first half of The Betrothed in Lecco, a town he knew deeply since he had spent part of his childhood there.

"We voyaged by steamer down the Lago di Lecco, through wild mountain scenery, and by hamlets and villas, and disembarked at the town of Lecco. They said it was two hours, by carriage to the ancient city of Bergamo, and that we would arrive there in good season for the railway train. We got an open barouche and a wild, boisterous driver, and set out. It was delightful. We had a fast team and a perfectly smooth road. There were towering cliffs on our left, and the pretty Lago di Lecco on our right, and every now and then it rained on us". Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, chapter 21. [