The 1L registration plate is used for boats registered on Lake Como, which is known as “Primo Lago” (First Lake).
This boat once belonged to Countess Carlangela Durini of Monza and was donated to the Museo Barca Lariana by her daughter, Rita Ajmone-Cat, along with the plaques and medals won by her beloved mother in the 1920s during the Lake Como regattas organized by the Regio Elice Club Italiano.
Carlangela Durini married Mario Ajmone-Cat, the first Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force during the republican era. Their son Giovanni, born in Rome in 1934, became the first Italian sailor to complete two Antarctic expeditions aboard a lateen-rigged motor-sailer, the San Giuseppe Due, which was designed and built entirely in Italy.
Giovanni learned the basics of sailing right on Lake Como, where he learned to navigate a small boat built in 1923—perhaps this very “Serie Laghi” model belonging to his mother, Carlangela.