During excavations for the construction of an extension to the Retirement Home a tract of Lecco’s late medieval city walls came to light. On the same area stood an old cinema, demolished on this occasion, the construction of which had partly cut both the summit of the walls along the whole length where the foundations were built and at their base where the heating system and service rooms had been put in.
The remains belong to medieval walls constructed at the beginning of the 14th century. They comprise two walls, one in front of the other, sloping to form a slight parapet, aimed at creating a defensive rampart more or less in the shape of a “V”, the point being uphill and the aperture towards the lake. The construction technique is simple, using large blocks of various types – squared and un-worked – positioned in a uniform way on the external facing and bonded with lime mortar. The rampart was completely buried during the course of the 19th century and in the next century the cinema was built, the foundations and services of which partially cut the walls, in particular the tract of communication trench that is shown on some maps but of which no traces survive.
However, the remains of a circular tower, visible on historic maps, were identified together with the base of a pentagonal embrasure for cannon, the existence of which was unknown. The presence of a palisade constituted by large poles with iron reinforced points placed cross-wise between the two walls is of interest. Its function was to break the trajectory of cannon balls in the most exposed places. (Paolo Corti)