Darsene

'Darsene' offers a view of the shores of Lake Como from the water.

An invitation to slow down, to discover the profound relationship between the landscape and the architecture that inhabits it.

After four years of research and work, Darsene – Boathouses and Docks on Lake Como becomes reality: the first monographic publication devoted to the architecture of the lake’s boathouses and docks. A unique typology, deeply rooted in the identity, history, and culture of Lake Como, rediscovered in all its fascinating and mysterious beauty through an unprecedented process of research, cataloguing, mapping, and redrawing.

Through the drawings and words of author Francesco Pusterla, developed while navigating along the shores of the lake, the boathouses reveal the lake’s deepest and most unexplored essence. Through architecture, they bear witness to the history of its towns and villages, its inhabitants, and its centuries-old culture of navigation.

The book is conceived as a journey by boat along the shores of the lake, enriched by the photographs of Tommaso Mola Meregalli: an intimate and discreet gaze upon the architecture of the boathouses, lingering among the shade of the trees and the reflections of summer sunlight on the deep water.

From fragments of a forgotten architecture emerges a new perspective on Lake Como and on the legacy of the boathouse in modern architecture.