It is a small village of old origin, situated in a strategic position and dominating its surroundings from a hill that narrows the valley of the Lambro river north to Erba, in a kind of natural ditch. The name castrum martis and some Roman archaeological finds (a sepulchral urn, a stone eagle and two earthenware amphoras) suggest the existence of a Roman military detachment. In the Byzantine period, it was a fortification of Limes (border). From its towers, now in ruins, you could see the border between Lecco and Civate, with the Buco del Piombo (Cave of the Lead), and even the Baradello castle above Como. In the Middle Ages, it was an important fortified village in the country around Martesana. In 1033, it became a free commune but, shortly after, it came to belong to the Archbishop of Milan and later, in 1100, to Monza under special statutes approved in 1237. In 1285, it joined the Visconti against the Torriani, who laid it waste. In 1405, it was part of Casate, in 1472 a fief of the Missaglia and then of the Carpani, and in 1677 of the Crivelli from Inverigo. You can still see the lay out of the commercial roads that ran from Valassina to Piana d'Erba (1400-1500).