Lecco (US: /ˈlɛkoʊ, ˈleɪkoʊ/,[3] Italian: [ˈlekko],[4][5] locally [ˈlɛkko] ⓘ;[4] Lecchese: Lècch [ˈlɛk]) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Milan.

As strategic crossroads for Valtellina, Lecco assumed increasing importance during the Middle Ages when it was annexed to the Duchy of Milan following the Peace of Constance.

[8][9] In 1988, excavations of the Civic Museums of Lecco led to the discovery of a village of the Culture of Golasecca (first Iron Age) at the Rocca di Chiuso.

In 2005, other excavations of the Civic Museums of Lecco and the University of Bergamo unearthed the oldest metallurgical production site in the entire Alpine arc (2nd century B.C.

As the nodal point of several streets that put Lombardy in communication with the territories of Oltralpe, the region becomes the scene of clashes and decisive battles.

In 1117, a ten-year war broke out pitting many villages of the lakes of Como and Lugano against Milan, of which Lecco was an ally.

In 1814, after the final defeat of Napoleon, the Austrian army regained possession of the region and permanently brought Lecco back to the province of Como in 1816[13] (from which it will become independent only in 1995) and definitively divides the city into many small municipalities that will be re-established in 1923, during the Fascist 20th anniversary.

[citation needed] In the 19th century, Lecco became one of the beating hearts of Italian culture: the Scapigliati, a famous group of Milanese writers made Maggianico one of their favorite meeting places.

[citation needed] Lecco is the northernmost city (urban area) in Italy with a humid subtropical climate (Cfa defined by Köppen), only slightly softer than Milan.

[16] «That branch of the Lake of Como, which turns toward the south between two unbroken chains of mountains, presenting to the eye a succession of bays and gulfs, formed by their jutting and retiring ridges, suddenly contracts itself between a headland to the right and an extended sloping bank on the left, and assumes the flow and appearance of a river.»[19] The municipal territory covers an area of about 45.93 km2 (17.73 sq mi).

The hydrography consists mainly of the stretch of the Adda river leaving the eastern branch of Lake Como and a series of streams, with their tributaries, which originate in the mountain range.

To the west, there are the hills of north-eastern Brianza, among which stands out Mount Barro in which a regional park was established to protect local flora and fauna.

The procession was re-proposed in 1933, 1955, 1965, 2004, and October 2005, during the celebrations of the Festa di Lecco with 11 stage performances curated by 150 actors of the Teatro tascabile in Bergamo, along the old town center.

Carnevalone of Lecco In February, since 1884 (edition n° 136 in 2020), on the occasion of the "Carnevalone di Lecco", there is the usual coronation of King Resegone and Regina Grigna, where the Mayor hands them the keys to the city to initiate the carnival folklore, that reaches its peak, according to the Ambrosian rite the city follows, with the Fat Saturday day and the traditional procession of floats.

Established in 2010, it aims to retrace the ancient paths that lead from the historic center to the summit of Resegone, erased over the years due to the urbanization of the city.

The event is in remembrance of 6 June 1859, when the inhabitants of the district went to Lecco to cheer General Giuseppe Garibaldi, accompanying him during the march with songs similar to the cicadas.

Some places are historical, such as the monastery of Fra Cristoforo in Pescarenico or the Azzone Visconti bridge, others are indicated by tradition, such as the alleged house of Lucia Mondella in the district of Olate, the tabernacle of the Bravi, the Palazzotto of Don Rodrigo, the house of the tailor in Chiuso, the Innominato's stronghold and Villa Manzoni in the Caleotto district (today the Manzonian Civic Museum), and the residence of Manzoni's family in which he lived his childhood, adolescence, and early youth as he wrote in the introduction of the novel Fermo and Lucia.

Through a portal decorated with a sixteenth-century Annunciation, you pass in the rustic courtyard, overlooked by an old tower, although it is not open to visitors as the house appears to be a private residence.

The popular tradition points out another house of Lucia in Via Resegone, in the hamlet of Acquate, where there is an old inn, from whose courtyard you can clearly see the hill of Don Rodrigo's Palace.

Bus services in Lecco were provided mainly by Servizi Automobilistici Lecchesi, until 2017, when the company merged into SAB Bergamo, creating Arriva Italia.

Their traditional rivalry with the team of the city of Como is marked by the so-called "Derby del Lario", often surrounded by violence between fans, created by the local ultras group Cani Sciolti.

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.