The area around Esino Lario is surrounded by Alpine mountains, where thekarst landscape has produced sink-holes and caves, including the "Icebox ofMoncodeno".[3] The municipality is part of theMountain Community of Valsassina, Valvarrone, Val d'Esino, and Riviera and is entirely within the "Regional Park of Northern Grigna" (Parco delle Grigna Settentrionale).
The town is located in theAlpine foothills along the north-eastern slopes ofGrigna mountain group, 4.3 kilometres (2.7 mi) from the eastern shore ofLake Como. It is located at the head of the small valley ofValsassina. The town consists of two distinct centres: Upper Esino andLower Esino, located at an elevation of around 900 metres (3,000 ft); other minor localities within the municipality are Cainallo, at almost 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) above sea level, and Ortanella, at a little less than 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).
The district is entirely mountainous: the lowest point reached is 554 metres (1,818 ft), while the highest point is the summit of Grigne, 2,409 metres (7,904 ft).[4] The presence ofdolomite (rocks composed of calcium carbonate and magnesium) in the area, common to the rest of the foothills of the Alps of Lombardy, has led to the presence of numerous karst areas within the municipality.
Geographical features include the Moncodeno, an extensive natural amphitheater located on the north of the northern Grigna at an altitude of between 1,700 metres (5,600 ft) and 2,300 metres (7,500 ft),[5][3] characterised by the presence of a large number ofsinkholes (depressions in the ground) and almost 500 caves, formed by the combined action of the karst and erosion by ice that covered the area during the ice ages.[6] In one of these caves, theIcebox of Moncodeno, are deposits of underground ice.[3][7]
The locality is also characterised by the abundant presence ofmarine fossil deposits, a result of the geological history of the Alpine foothills, which emerged from the sea during the tectonic movements of theAlpine orogeny in theCenozoic era. These deposits have long been studied bypalaeontologists; among the first interested scholars was the geologist and palaeontologistAntonio Stoppani during the 19th century.
Esino Lario, like most of the Valsassina valley, features a humid, temperate climate, cooler than in the Po Valley due to the higher elevations. At the nearest weather station, inBarzio, (elevation 770 metres (2,530 ft) — Esino Lario's elevation is about 100 metres (330 ft) higher), mean annual temperature is around 10 °C/50 °F (compare, for example, with around 13 °C (55 °F) in Milan). Precipitation is abundant, with more than 1,700 millimetres (67 in) falling in an average year. Rainfall is frequent in every season, with a little less in winter when there can be snowfall. As in most temperate climates, there are prolonged and well-defined intermediate seasons.
Summers are moderate, with frequent rain showers and thunderstorms. Mean summer temperature is around 19 °C (66 °F), higher in July and August, and slightly lower in June; even during the most intenseheat waves, maximum temperatures rarely exceed 32 °C (90 °F). Winters are quite mild; the average temperature for December, January, and February is around 1–2 °C (34–36 °F), more or less the same temperature recorded in the Po Valley at much lower elevations. This is due to the phenomenon ofinversion (a deviation from the normal atmospheric behaviour, where temperature increases with elevation) frequently observed in midwinter when subtropical high-pressure systems reach northern Italy. Winters can become snowy, as extratropical cyclones carry moist and cool air from the North Atlantic.
The last glaciation of thequaternary period, theWürm, began 70,000 years ago covering theComo area, and it profoundly changed the land's appearance – shaping the sides of the mountains, creating fertilemoraine terraces, leaving many signs of its passage with boulders. The landscape of Esino Lario testifies to the Alpine orogeny with the presence of fossils, boulders, and caves.
Human presence in the territory is documented since theNeolithic period. Esino archaeological findings from the 5th century BC show that the area was a crossing point of the main road along the eastern shore of the lake, reaching Colico and the valleys of the Adda and Imera; because of overhanging rocks betweenMandello andBellano, fromLierna the road climbed to Ortanella (currently afrazione of Esino) subsequently declined to Vezio and Bellano. Archaeological finds testify numerous tombs and Celtic necropolis in Esino Lario. The area was a strategic point with detachments of warriors-pastors. During the lateWestern Roman Empire, to defend themselves from the incursions of the barbarians, the Romans prepared protective lines that communicated with each other by fires at night and smoke in the daytime. Castle Esino – of which only a tower remains – was one of the fortified points added to a defensive chain. Other archaeological finds with tombs buried document the period.
At the fall of theWestern Roman Empire, after the domination ofOdoacer and of theOstrogoths, theByzantines conquered Italy during theGothic War. Immediately after, however, theLombards came down fromFriuli and in 569 conquered Milan. A contingent from the Byzantine Empire, under the command ofmagister militum Francione, resisted in Esino Lario for 20 years, avoiding the large reprisals that followed the death of kingAlboin and housing wealthy Roman refugees. In the end, Francione had to repair inIsola Comacina and, after six months of siege, surrender. The territory was finally conquered by the Lombard kingAuthari.
Private act granting self-rule to Esino Lario, 1697.
Towards the end of the 12th century, Esino Lario entered the General Community of Valsassina, afree commune. It lays its statutes, derived from ancient practices.[10] Each village was administered by its board, formed by the heads of families. A unique representative of both Esino Superiore and Iniferiore took part in the Council of the Community General, which was based inIntrobio.
In the first decades of the sixteenth century, the easternLario was close to the armies involved in the dispute betweenFrance andSpain. An adventurer,Gian Giacomo Medici, attempted to form a principality on Lake Como and a fleet take long in check the forces of Francesco II Sforza. Bellano was plundered and famine raged in every village. A duke died without heirs, and Milan went to the Spanish in 1535. There followed two centuries of gradual decay: the archives of Esino reveal misery, oppression, robberies, and injustices. The only glimmer of light is the two pastoral visits ofCharles Borromeo to Esino in 1565 and in 1582. Theplague of 1630 claimed many victims in Valsassina; fifty in Esino. Along the rest of the century, then, was a continuous drip of starvation and hunger. In the late 17th century, despite the ancient privileges, Valsassina became a feud chamber.
A man with a mule transporting bundles of wood at Ponte di Vigna
Although a small town and then very poor, Esino participated in theRisorgimento movement (Italian reunification). At the news of the revolt in Milan in 1848, a group came from Lecco and joined volunteers in the Esino Lario to come to the aid of the Milanese in theirFive Days Rebellion. The first 50 years of theKingdom of Italy were of economical crisis: wood was no longer required for the coal needed for melting furnaces, and could only be sold afar.
The reduction of glaciers was in progress, reducing the cultivated land, and population growth soon pushed emigration. Despite this decline, some public works were performed in the town: there were newly cobbled streets to the lake and to the mountain, and two aqueducts for public fountains were also constructed.
AfterWorld War I, the local economy was boosted by the construction of a newagro-forestry-pastoral road,[11] opened in 1925. The upper and lower municipalities merged in 1927 to form the new town of Esino Lario.[9]
During lateWorld War II, guerilla warfare against theWehrmacht andRSI troops took place in the area. In 1958, the road from Lake Como was widened and paved, and in 1957 it reached Ortanella.
Historically the main economic activity of Esino Lario is linked to thecultivation of forests ofbeech andhornbeam. Esino Lario was part of a group of local municipalities that provided charcoal for iron production in Valsassina. The management of the forests as a common good is a peculiarity of Esino compared to neighbouring territories; forests still belong to the city and are divided for use between residents and partially transmitted byhereditary right.
Tourism in Esino Lario began in the late 19th century with scholars coming to study the fossils of Grigne. During the 1970s, tourists coming in the summer period of each year reached 12,000. However, in the 1990s tourism began to decline, and the reducing snowfall meant the closure of skiing structures.
TheMuseum of Grigne was established in the 1930s. It details the evolution of man in the area from its origins until today.[13] The museum is part of the Museum System of the Province of Lecco.[14]
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