Campanile pendente di Nobiallo

Not every tower on Lake Como stands straight. In Nobiallo, the small hamlet just north of Menaggio, a medieval square campanile leans visibly to one side, crowned by a pavilion roof and marked by a centuries-old sundial. It remains a defining feature of Nobiallo's historic fabric.

Why it matters

The Leaning Bell Tower of Nobiallo is counted among the oldest surviving bell towers of the Menaggio territory, and its strong tilt has made it the visual signature of the hamlet. Attached to the south side of the church of Santi Bartolomeo e Nicola, it is a distinctive feature of the hamlet's historic fabric. It is a rare medieval structure within the historic landscape of Menaggio.

What to notice

• The square tower and pavilion roof are marked by the pronounced slope of the masonry, rather than a collapsed spire.
• The ancient sundial on the south facade, scratched into stone at a height where the sun of the open lakeside square still reaches it.
• The ossuary beneath the tower, restored in 2001, preserves a painting by D. De Capite and reflects the funerary as well as signalling role of such borgo towers.
• The adjoining church of Santi Bartolomeo e Nicola, whose walls carry medieval heraldic fragments, forms part of the same historic group.
• The tower stands near the historic Antica Strada Regina and the Sanctuary of the Madonna della Pace.

Context and history

The Menaggio tourism portal, drawing on regional heritage material, dates the tower to the medieval period — its listing describes it as twelfth-century, while the portal's own Strada Regina trail page refers to a thirteenth-century date for the same structure. That discrepancy is worth stating plainly: the exact founding decade is not established by the published sources, and no restoration campaign has produced a consensus dating. What both sources agree on is its exceptional age among the bell towers of the territory, its attachment to the parish complex of Santi Bartolomeo e Nicola, and the characteristic slope that made "pendente" part of its popular name. The 2001 restoration of the under-tower ossuary is the best-documented modern intervention, tying the building's care to the local community rather than to a distant monument authority.