A Serene Trip to Lake Como
A little walk around Bellagio, starting at the famous lake.
Most Fridays I send out an email that features photos from the Rupert Leach Collection, snaps taken from the personal reels of View-Master’s Director of Photography in the 1940s and ‘50s. These never-before-published images show alternative shots of some commercial View-Master reels and personal photos of Leach, his wife Poppy, and others.
I try to get to the bottom of the people and places pictured within despite the limited context provided by mostly unmarked reels. Let’s dig in!
This week’s reel is simply labeled Lake Como and Bellagio. What do I know about Bellagio? I enjoy visiting the Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Gardens in Las Vegas. What do I know about Lake Como? George Clooney lives there. Taylor Swift did some oddball photo ops with her boyfriend there last summer in the pouring rain. My Scottish friend Linda thinks it’s boring and overrated! Based on the photos, I think Travis Kelce also thought it was overrated.
But let’s decide for ourselves, shall we?
This is a pretty little spot!
San Martino is Lake Como’s most famous mountain church perched on a top a cliff above the town of Griante. Its official name is "Santuario Della Madonna delle Grazie di San Martino", but most everyone simply refers to it as San Martino.
From what I could gather this is the Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni and has been a world class place since the late 1800s.
Rupert Leach was a 3D photography pioneer and taking a landscape shot with a plant or tree in the foreground to make it pop is a classic choice that you will see over and over and over again in View-Master reels.
This is likely Lake Como from above Bellagio.
The Garibaldi cruising along Lake Como.
A view from a (hotel?) room looking out onto Lake Como. Another classic 3D photo technique to frame a landscape shot.
This is the most curious photo for me on this reel. What are we looking at here? Any ideas? Lemme know in the comments.
That’s it for this week! Thanks for reading along. Be sure to smash that ❤️ button so I know you’re out there and following along!
My fellow commenter Julia's Mussolini research is so much better than the dumb joke I was gonna make about Dale going there to scrawl your name.
I am guessing that the graffiti, which appears to read "Duce" and "Petacci," refers to the deaths and execution of Benito Mussolini (Il Duce), the fascist Italian dictator, and his last young mistress, Clara Petacci, at the end of World War II on April 28, 1945. That would be exactly 80 years ago, within a few days of your post, ironically. To add, this general reference states the following about their relationship to Lake Como: "Benito Mussolini's connection to Lake Como is primarily associated with his death. He and his mistress, Claretta Petacci, were captured by partisans near the village of Dongo on Lake Como while attempting to flee to Switzerland. They were executed in Giulino di Mezzegra the following day." Brutal and graphic images exist of their abused corpses (by the general public) following their deaths, but it appears that the person who wrote the graffiti may have been a supporter and was mourning them back at the time.
Always enjoy such challenges! Thanks for such great posts! Wishing you well!