THE LARIO MOON

A history of Lake Como

The monster of the lake

Not a Celtic myth and not even a Norse legend… just a fantastic tale handed down by grandparents.

In their story, in a branch of Lake Como, in its deep and icy waters, a magical creature lives and now, with the eyes and heart of a child, imagine the story of his birth and how he got here. .

It is difficult to spot it but be careful, it holds a secret, a secret that will one day be revealed.

Once upon a time there was the moon.

It was different from what we know today.

It was alive and had a soul. It was shining love for all of mankind.

And when men, on full moon nights, admired its light, where feeling in their hearts that the moon was still gazing over the planet it was orbiting around.

And in that exchange, the moon fell in love with a little lake embedded between towering mountains, and with the water mirroring her image every night.

To the moon, it seemed like a flower with three petals. The moon wanted to bring it to her, like she did with the oceans, but every effort was in vain.

But time, jealous of such beauty, brought the moon to its last sighs.

A final tear drop escaped the moon.

The blue sphere, in an act of compassion, captured the tear drop and brought it close, until the atmosphere consumed the water surrounding it. The core that was left, hard as a diamond, fell at incredible speed.

Like two lovers, after such a long wait, lake and tear drop crowned their heartbreaking love story.

It was in that lake, referred to as the larian triangle, that, a long time ago, a moon’s tear drop gifted its beauty to mankind.

The force of that loving dream shook the lake’s waters, and splashed a billion drops into man’s hearts.

In the end, it sank to the bottom of the lake, creating a deep rift, and finally the core cracked, freeing the creature inside.

The lake waters, cold and dark like deep space, cradled the offspring of that love, impossible for mankind to understand.

Lario moon, shy like her mother, joyfully plays in the deep of the lake.

She has big eyes and an immense body.

During the day she swims gently and, hidden from the sunlight, manages to hide her melancholy.

When night comes, lario moon silently slips toward the surface and turns her gaze to the light of her beloved moon.

On full moon nights, when the moon, now soulless, shines in her entire beauty, lario moon is mystified searching for the light rays that illuminate lake como, embedded and protected by the high peaks that surround it.

On those nights lario moon leaps toward the sky, higher and higher, striving to reach it, to give her mother moon her sweetest daughterly kiss.

STORY

FABRIZIO CHIERICHETTI

REVISION

DANIELE GIRTANNER

DRAWS AND COLOR

PABRYODA

TRANSLATION

MAIA PASTORI

SASCIA PASTORI