Eugi Gufo's siteEugi Gufo

In June, a very likeable friend of mine from Latina asked me: «When are you going to start publishing those reports again where you tell everyone to fuck off?» Two weeks ago I resumed publishing, and today…
People of Lecco! Bloody hell, where the fuck have you hidden the historic centre?! I refuse to believe that it is limited to one square and five buildings in the streets leading into it.

Sure, in the rest of the city you do come across some nice old buildings, but they are scattered around and therefore do not fall within the classic definition of a «historic centre».

And then there are beautiful things that can only be admired from a distance. The most impressive example is the huge solitary bell tower: it stands completely alone in the middle of a courtyard that is impossible to access. Still, being able to see it whole, at least from the outside, is already something.

Of the city walls, only two small sections are still standing; the larger one fits entirely into the following photo.

The monument dedicated to the «victory» in the First World War reminds Italians of the first of our two global military embarrassments. The second one (that of 1943) was identical: as soon as the course of the war changed, we switched sides and joined the new winners.

So I appreciated a different kind of monument more (I am not even sure it can be called that): in many parts of the city I saw fountains emerging directly from the street paving. No, these are not broken pipes. Cyclists, children and other lovers of coolness move right through the columns of water.

But photos of historical and artistic monuments are the domain of Japanese tourists. We, instead, go and see how the life of the natives is organised. The litter bins, for example, are identical to those in Genoa and Ravenna: only the name printed on them changes.

An equally important (and very visible) installation: the dispenser of bags for collecting the enemies of shoes.

The street lamps are fitted with light diffusers: we have already seen a similar system in Como.

The urban bus stops, on the other hand, resemble those in Bergamo.

Almost all stops are equipped with electronic devices that provide every kind of information about all public transport lines: timetables, delays, routes, stops, etc. It is the first time I have seen anything like this in Italy.

Across the entire city I noticed only one bike-sharing station (a rather common feature in Lombardy): it was near the railway station.

Most of Lecco’s benches are concentrated along the lakeside. There are six different types of benches, and the most beautiful ones, in my opinion, are these:

Speaking of the lake: it is precisely in Lecco that Lake Lario ends and the River Adda begins. At the point where the two separate, the training area of the local rowing and canoeing school starts.

While on the lake, at one point, I found what looks like a sort of stadium-style stepped seating.

And for the first time in my life I saw a coot in real life. Only thanks to a telephoto lens did I realise that it is not a black duck.

But let us look at something else in the city. Lecco’s public library has installed a book-return box for use outside opening hours. In my opinion, the people behind this invention should be sacked and banned for life from all the libraries in the world: you simply cannot teach your users to treat books like this.

In Lecco as well (the complete list of cities would be far too long) there are automatic shops selling various snacks. I am now starting to think that the only city in Northern Italy without this type of shop is Milan (but that is not a great loss).

One of the construction sites in the city centre is equipped with a television for passers-by: it shows advertising videos for the contractor. This photo has the smallest possible amount of reflections.

The storm-drain covers are nice and do not act as traps for cyclists.

Some signs piss off not only bulls.

In fact, there is one thing in particular for which I am infinitely grateful to Lecco: for the first time in many years I behaved like a carefree tourist. I spent a total of two hours smoking a pipe and contemplating the landscapes, and it gave me a wonderful sense of inner peace.

You can look in directions other than towards the lake.

Until next time.