The town of Colico is the last on the eastern shore of the Lecco branch of the Lario, it is immersed in a grandiose mountain setting dominated to the east by Legnone, to the north by the peaks of Chivennate among which Sasso Manduino stands out and to the west by the peaks of 'high lake.

It is an important tourist location, both for stays and for transit: it is, in fact, located at the convergence point of the roads coming from Lecco, Chiavenna and Sondrio, that is, from the plains and the Alpine passes and, even further away, from Switzerland and 'Austria.

A key point of trade between the north and the south, inhabited already in Roman and pre-Roman times, fortified in the municipal era, devastated by the passage of foreign troops heading towards Milan, by plagues and by the repeated floods of the Adda.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was enfeoffed to various lords: the Visconti, the Sanseverino, the Sforza, the Caldarini, the Pusterla, the Quadrio and the Alberti. At the end of the seventeenth century the surrounding area was an uninhabited and smelly swamp.

It regained importance with the opening of the Stelvio, Maloia and Spluga roads and with the filling of the last stretch of the Adda carried out in 1858, which allowed the reclamation of the Piano di Spagna, today the largest and most important natural reserve in the Lombardy.

Among the many trips that can be made starting from the town, one, short and pleasant, leads to the picturesque chapel of San Rocco near which are the 'Torri di Fontanedo', around which the oldest nucleus of Colico developed.

The pride of the town of Colico is the Piona Abbey, which however is located in the hamlet of Olgiasca, on the rocky promontory that slopes down towards the semi-enclosed lake formed by a natural bottleneck.

It was founded by the Cluniac monks around the church of San Nicolao, built on the remains of an oratory built by the bishop of Como Agrippino in the 7th century.

It was transformed into a secular commandery, suppressed in the eighteenth century and restored at the beginning of our century, and is currently owned by the Cistercians of the Lazio abbey of Casamari.

The church, from the 11th century, has an irregular plan, a single nave with a wooden ceiling, and preserves two marble lions from the ancient prothyrum and fragments of 13th century frescoes linked to the Byzantine tradition.

It is flanked by a bell tower rebuilt in the eighteenth century and a beautiful cloister from 1257, in which Romanesque and Gothic architectural motifs and influences from beyond the Alps overlap.

The frescoes on the walls recall the Byzantine figurative language of the paintings inside the abbey.

Characteristic is the rare subject of the fresco of a figured calendar, in early Gothic style, with images of saints and episodes of peasant life linked to the months of the year. The forty columns and the four supporting pillars end with capitals each sculpted differently from the other.

It was built by the Spanish count of the same name, governor of the Duchy of Milan, in 1603, to guard his northern border from invasions by the Grisons (allies of the Republic of Venice).

Of this fort, suppressed by Joseph II in 1782 and destroyed by order of Napoleon in 1796, we still recognize the perimeter, the governor's residence, the chapel from which the fresco depicting Santa Barbara was removed, today preserved in the modern parish church of Colico, dedicated to Saint George.

Throughout history, Valtellina has always represented one of the major commercial arteries to and from Northern Europe. But, at the same time, it was among the main transit routes of the invading armies. Colico, precisely because it was located at the end of the Valley, constituted the ideal position for a stronghold.

This is demonstrated by the towers of Fontanedo but, above all, by the famous fort of Fuentes which the Spanish count of the same name, governor of the Duchy of Milan, decided to build in 1603 to guard his northern border. Studies for a new fortification, commissioned by the 'Permanent Commission for the Defense of the State', date back to 1862.

The fort was supposed to stop invasions coming from Maloia, Spluga and Stelvio. But Switzerland was not considered a serious threat and the idea was initially shelved. It will be discussed again in 1871 with the project of a new fort, to be built on the Fuentes hill, with an estimated cost of 1,500,000 lire. But the following year His Majesty's Committee expressed a contrary opinion, 'since an Austrian violation in Swiss territory is unlikely; remote and easy to predict in time, a violation by Germany.'

This brings us to 1901, when the Ministry of War studied the positioning of some cannon batteries. Two, made up of four pieces of 149 G and protected by a masonry parapet, to be placed in Fuentes. While a third, with two cannons, to be camouflaged in a cave on the Piona peninsula. But even these works were considered not very urgent.

Only in 1911 did the project of the 'Mera - Adda operation line' get underway. With the aim, once again, of blocking the passage of the armies that had descended the Valtellina and Valchiavenna. Some generals of the General Staff, after a careful inspection, decided to place a permanent battery right on Montecchio Nord. From this position, in fact, it would have been possible to shoot on the western shore of the Lario, on the Novate Mezzola bottleneck and on the Lower Valtellina. Thus began the construction of the fort which initially benefited from an initial allocation of 750,000 lire.

While in 1912 the project was revised, as it was deemed essential to expand the powder magazine to store the explosives, necessary for road interruptions, previously stored in Tanno, near Chiavenna.

In December 1913, as the First World War approached, the access roads were completed, while preliminary works had recently begun for the armored structure.

In December 1913, the preliminary work has recently started for the First World War, the access roads are completed.

In July 1914, at the beginning of hostilities, the fort is still under construction and, for this reason, the works undergo a decisive acceleration. To the point that, in December, the armament is also completed and the fort is ready to open the fire. In addition to the batteries of the Forte di Montecchio other cannons had been placed in Piona, among the ruins of the Fuentes Fort and at the Castello di Vezio, above Varenna. Furthermore, as a position at the level of the lake is considered too violable, some batteries found places on the slopes of Mount Legnoncino. But the high Italian command always appeared not very convinced of the potential of the fort. To the point that, after the damage caused in June by the Austrian Obici to the Forte di Verena (VI), it was decided to position the cannons in places more protected and difficult to identify by enemies.

Thus, like many strong laris, in June 1915 the armament of Montecchio was dismantled. In March 1918, however, General Badoglio thought about it. Considering imminent the fall by the Austrian army regime, between great logistical difficulties, the structure. After the war, during which it was never directly involved, the fort remains armed and efficient.

In 1939, with the name of "Lusardi", he was entrusted to the XII sector of the Gaf, the border guard. And, until the last days of the Second World War, it is not the scene of any important event. He will return to the limelight in 1945, when he took the "reduced republican alpine" body. Also known as the "Valtellina Project", it had to be the extreme attempt to resist the social republic of Mussolini. In the valley, in fact, about 4,000 men loyal to the Duce were concentrated and they would have represented the last bulwark against the advance of the allies. But the project did not convince all the fascist hierarchs. Also because some were convinced that they could count on the resistance offered by the Germans along the Po line.

Just to better evaluate the project, on April 20, 1945, the commander of the Fort, Lieutenant Alberto Orio, was called up to Como. A fateful choice because, surprised by the events, the officer will not be able to return to his own command. But already in February 1945 some soldiers, stationed at the Fort, had reached agreements with the surrender of the garrison with the president of the National Liberation Committee, Vittorino Cancelini.

Between 25 and 26 April 1945 there was an armed clash between Italian and German soldiers inside the Fort, two German soldiers died, the temporary commander was imprisoned and Montecchio was delivered to the men of the CLN. Just these men, commanded by Battista Cancelini, opened the fire on April 27, on the German self -collector who escorted the Duce on the opposite part of the lake. The Germans had already delivered Mussolini to the partisans and tried to reach the Swiss border, but were blocked by five cannonate shot by the CLN.

The shots went empty because the Germans had destroyed the shooting cards, but they intimidated the commander of the autocolonna Fallemayer, who decided to start the peace negotiations that ended with the surrender signed by the Germans at the Isolabella hotel in Colico.

Colico 5il Forte today is one of the typical constructions designed, at the beginning of the century, by General Enrico Rocchi who is considered a genius of the military constructions of the time. It is a structure, completely in concrete and stone, with two floors, with the accommodation of the military made in a wing separated from the central body. The two buildings are connected, thanks to a gallery dug in the rock and protected by vaults of about two meters thick. On the top of the building, four cannons are positioned in swivel installations and protected by steel and cast iron. This is the most modern armament used, in Italian fortifications, during the First World War.

The four pieces are the only originals preserved until the present day. These are weapons produced by the French company Schneider, as the Italian war industry was unable to provide cannons necessary for all fortifications. The pieces, model 149/35 S, in addition to being the largest cannons in Italy, are still fully functional. Although, of course, the elimination of the percussor prevents us from using them to shoot. Each piece, in addition to rotating on itself, has the possibility of carrying out a rash between –8 ° and +42 °. It also has a brake, a recuperator and a compressed arias device that allows you to expel the gases produced by the deflagration from the barrel. Each cannon, weighing 3,800 kg, could use different types of bullets.

The 52 kg Sharapnel reached goals at 11.6 km. While the granate 149 s, heavy 42 kg, reached up to 12.1 km. More lighter, but with a decidedly higher flow rate, 37 kg monobloc grenades, capable of reaching distances 14.2 km. A peculiarity of the cannons is that they did not use launching charges in the cartridge case, but in the bag.

The explosive was preserved in the powder keg carved under the mountain and, in times of necessity, was brought to the upper floor thanks to special elevations. While a team of artillerymen provided for the immediate packaging of the offices to be used. The officers, employed in the pointing, were in the command chamber. Here the tricks were calculated by means of the cards and shooting tables then, thanks to an intercom system, they learned the orders to the men positioned to the pieces. Finally, an observation dome allowed to verify the effectiveness of the blow.