C. Isolino Partegora

Audio narration by eArsC. Isolino Partegora (Pier Mario Forni PMF, Remo Cardana RC, Luigi Innocenti LI, Anna Bernardoni AB)Narrator: Take a seat on the benches along the lakeside promenade and look to the left, just past the ducks swimming near the shore. A small patch of land rises out of the water.It is a small island... Isolino Partegora!Today, it’s mostly known for its natural value but, in the past, it was connected to at least two extraordinary figures, one a man of religion, the other a man of  science.To find out about them in chronological order, we must turn the clock back a thousand years. Let’s hear the story from Pier Mario Forni:PMF: “Saint Arialdo was very probably martyred on Isolino Partegora in the year 1066. Born in Cuggiago, he became a deacon and later founded the Pataria movement, which condemned the Church’s attachment to material wealth. Arialdo did not even hold back from criticizing the archbishop of Milan and, for that, he was expelled from the city.Captured by his enemies, he was imprisoned in the Rocca of Angera before being tortured and killed on what the sources refer to as ‘a small island on Lake Maggiore’, understood to be Isolino.”N: Now our time travelling takes us from the Dark Ages to the Enlightenment and the early years of scientific inquiry, with Remo Cardana:RC: "That's right. At the end of the eighteenth century, the renowned scientist Alessandro Volta discovered what he called ‘inflammable swamp gas’, now better known as methane. On a boat trip around Isolino Partegora, he stirred up the bed of the lake with a stick and noticed bubbles rising to the surface. He managed to trap some of the gas in glass tubes and began to study its properties.”N: But what was the famous scientist from Como doing in Angera in the first place? We'll ask Anna Bernardoni.AB: “He came here on holiday as the guest of the brother of Teresa Castiglioni. Originally from Angera, she had married a nobleman from Como called Cesare Ciceri. Teresa was one of the first ever female scientists. Volta had such great respect for her that he sent her his scientific papers for her feedback and even arranged for her to be appointed a Correspondent Member of the Patriotic Society of Milan!She was also a brilliant agronomist who developed a way to make threads and fabrics from lupin plants and helped introduce potato cultivation in the Como area. She and Volta were close friends. She was his confidante.”