Santo Stefano

The Santo Stefano district is the youngest of the city, which rose up after the nineteen fifties as a new urban area on the northern border of Lecco.
It develops along the Viale Turati, one of the main and liveliest roads of the city, which ends at the Monastery of the Friars Minor Capuchin. Behind the religious complex is Santo Stefano hill, of fundamental importance since it was here that the remains were found of the ancient castrum of Lecco, a fortress from the early Middle Ages that was preserved inside a keep from the Roman era. These are the first documented traces of the city. The area’s inhabitants, following the castle’s destruction in the Middle Ages, migrated to the territory of the modern-day Castello district, keeping the name that it still retains today. 

The district borders the centre of the city: it develops to the north, behind the Monumental Cemetery, beyond the course of the river Gerenzone, and reaches the slopes of Monte San Martino, the so-called “mountain of Lecco”. It therefore incorporates the last narrow branch of the city overlooking the Lario, with the districts of Caviate and Pradello, before the municipality of Abbadia Lariana. 

The origin of the name: the district took the name of the Santo Stefano hill that lies in its territory. Inhabitants’ nickname: given the recent origin of the Santo Stefano district, it does not yet have its own nickname.
Not to be missed: The evocative lakeside beach of Pradello and the routes, recommended for the most expert hikers, that followed the so-called “Pizzetti” and “Tecett” paths of Monte San Martino.