The Lights of Summer

A look at one of Lake Como’s oldest festivals: The Sagra di San Giovanni

Comacina Island, peacefully nestled on Lake Como across from Tremezzo, awakens at the end of June every year when the Sagra di San Giovanni arrives—the oldest festival in the Como, an event that blends tradition, history, art, and faith.

The Sagra di San Giovanni is celebrated in honour of St. John the Baptist on June 24th, or on the weekends closest to this date. The origin and the name of the festival, also known as the “Sagra dei Lumaghitt,” is rooted in a legend that dates back over three hundred years. According to this legend, the local inhabitants freed themselves from the hailstorms that would devastate the crops every June by praying to the saint and organising a boat procession to Comacina Island, where a church dedicated to him was located.

Since then, the procession has been repeated every year with a grand celebration, during which tradition dictates the consumption of polenta and snails, whose empty shells are then turned into small lanterns—this practice gave rise to the name “Lumaghitt.”

However, the fires lit on the island and floating rafts also carry a second meaning: they recall the great fire that engulfed the island in 1169, when the people of Como, seeking revenge against the Comacini—who were guilty of having participated alongside the Milanese in the destruction of Como in 1127—razed Comacina to the ground.

An event that has become a highlight of the Como summer: a play of lights and sounds, with fireworks illuminating the sky and water, and music evoking ancient sounds on “a natural stage that always leaves you in awe,” to use the words of Alessandro Bordoli, one of the organisers and a councillor of the municipality of Tremezzina.

A pyrotechnic display lasting about an hour that requires a great deal of work behind the scenes: “Five simultaneous aerial firework stations with 2,800 launches. The island has been networked because it’s not just fireworks,” explains Maurizio Di Pietro, the safety officer, to the microphones of Como TV, “but also fire simulation effects to recall the flames of the 12th-century battle.”

The mainland also dresses up for the occasion with rides and stalls. “It’s unique,” Maurizio continues, “the emotional atmosphere created by this show is truly unique: those who attend feel this soundtrack coming from nowhere. And a kilometre-long show like this isn’t done anywhere else in Italy. Only here.”

The mainland is filled with curious onlookers, and Lake Como is full of boats acting as spectators: by land and by water, everyone gazes upward, eyes wide open, not wanting to miss a single second, enveloped by the music that transports you to a bygone era, passed down through generations.

The Sagra di San Giovanni is thus a true celebration of local culture and traditions, which you can explore further in a unique film covering this year’s festival on Como TV. Please visit tv.comofootball.com for a range of films exploring all that Como has to offer.