Lake Como’s flavors

The first sensation that greets anyone arriving in the city is Lake Como’s breeze, which opens before the eyes of those who see it for the first time, those who rediscover it after years, and those who experience it every day in its immense beauty. Lake Como is the symbol of the city and the villages that surround it. Lake Como is history, it is life, it is elegance. Lake Como gives local fishermen twait shad, bleak, lavarello, perch, salmon trout, pike, and chub, often found in Como’s recipes accompanied by the local savors, such as polenta and risotto.

To taste Lake Como’s deliciousness, one can stay in town or move to the picturesque villages along its shores. In Lenno, at the “Trattoria del Grifo” you can savor risotto with perch and missoltini (in dialect ‘misultitt’) with polenta, the dish par excellence of Como tradition. Misultitt are twait shads, dried in the sun and pressed with salt in wooden ‘missolte’ (vats).

Where to taste traditional Lake Como’s dishes

Ristorante Frate, via Bellinzona 160, Como
Trattoria del Grifo, via Mattia del Riccio 19, Lenno

The flavors of Como

Como is not only a lake. Como is also mountains, tradition, and authentic food. Among these are cheeses, with their triumph of flavors: semuda, zincarlin, and Triangolo del Lario. You can find them at fairs, where ‘Comaschi’ celebrate their local dishes, or in the town’s food shops. The cheese pairs well with polenta, which celebrates the savors of the mountains, but also with products from Lake Como, such as missoltini. To taste a dish from the Como area is to have a unique experience, as unique is the place where these products are born. Como is known for its typical sweets: cutizza, resta, and miascia. The cutizza, a kind of pancake made with a simple dough of flour, eggs, milk, and sugar, and sometimes with apples added, is a delicious snack for children and adults.

Where to taste the flavors of Como

La Polenteria, via Scalini 66, Brunate
Osteria del Gallo, via Vitani 16, Como

A casual lunch

Como is a mix of different places and experiences. In Como, you can stroll around and come across unexpected corners where tasting traditional dishes while taking a dip into history or find places where you can feel at home, enjoying products of the highest quality. Lunch, especially at weekends, is one of the most eagerly awaited moments when you can get together with family and friends. Como offers numerous possibilities for casual lunches to enjoy together. In town, not far from Stadio Sinigaglia, is the “Osteria Figli dei Fiori”. The restaurant offers big plates to be placed in the middle of the table and shared with friends, allowing customers to taste different traditional Italian dishes, from starters to main courses. Just outside the center, a unique location offers typical Lombard cuisine in an atmosphere that takes you back in time. This is the trattoria “Tira, Mola e Meseda”, a dialect name, where you can enjoy pizzoccheri, polenta and ossobuco. In Moltrasio is the “Trattoria La Moltrasina 1902”, established a few years before the foundation of Como 1907 as a meeting place for the people of Moltrasio before becoming a restaurant, with a beautiful view of Lake Como and mountains. Here, you can find a modern version of traditional dishes, including the typical risotto with perch.

Where to enjoy a casual lunch

Osteria Figli dei Fiori, via Borgo Vico 34, Como
Tira, Mola e Meseda, via Castellini 17, Como
Trattoria La Moltrasina 1902, via Raschi 9, Moltrasio

Dinner in an elegant atmosphere

Como is elegance, sophistication, and luxury. The city and the province offer magical places to enjoy the highest quality products in an atmosphere of remarkable refinement. Just outside the city center is the “Ristorante Navedano”, surrounded by greenery and with a long tradition dating back to 1896. The restaurant offers traditional tastes with a modern twist. Strong points are the raw materials, seasonality, and a wide choice of wines. Lomazzo is home to the Michelin 1-star “Trattoria contemporanea”. A former 19th-century cotton mill houses the restaurant. The kitchen serves excellent raw materials and offers a contemporary dining experience. In Carate Urio, right on the lakeshore, is “Acquadolce”, an exclusive location with a garden with private access from Lake Como and a refined place for a gastronomic experience that links tradition with a modern twist, with a splendid view over the Lake Como’s waters.

Where to enjoy a fine dinner

Acquadolce, via Regina Vecchia 26, Carate Urio
Ristorante Navedano, via Velzi 4, Como
Trattoria contemporanea, via del Ronco 10, Lomazzo

Domus Plinii 1792 Suites

Via alle Rive, 28/30, 22020 Faggeto Lario CO

Domus Plinii is a historic residence built in 1792 overlooking Lake Como in the beautiful village of Faggeto Lario. It offers twelve charming suites, each named after a fish from the lake, such as Tinca, Alborella, Anguilla and Lavarello.

A representative of the property explains the concept of the accommodation: “Domus Plinii 1792 Suites is ideal for young couples, older couples, families with children and groups of friends. Our aim is to provide a personalised and exclusive experience for all our guests, regardless of their age or particular needs.”

The resort was built by a team of Milanese architects, including the former deputy director of Vogue Italia, and is managed by the Giulini family, who decided to give new life to an 18th century family villa in 2018.

More than just a resort, Domus Plinii 1792 Suites is a state of mind, an enchanting and charming place overlooking the waters of Lake Como. “Our boutique resort is characterised by attention to detail and the search for unique pieces from the 1950s, with the aim of creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere, far from the more aseptic and standardised. This appreciation of design has led us to discover real treasures that complement our suites.”

As part of the Como4Como network, this location offers the high-end ComoComoComo x Bric’s collection. “The partnership with Como 1907 is a perfect example of the synergy between exclusive hospitality and quality products. Guests looking for items that reflect their style and their connection to the Como area will find the ideal answer in the Bric’s bags, with their sophisticated design and fine materials.”

Museums in the city centre: Pinacoteca, Museo Giovio, and Museo Garibaldi
It is nice to think that all it takes is a stroll through the centre of Como to encounter art from various eras, from ancient to contemporary. If we move south, leaving via Vittorio Emanuele II with its elegant boutiques behind us, the splendid building housing the Museo Archeologico Paolo Giovio (Paolo Giovio Archaeological Museum) opens up before us. Here, amidst frescoes, statues, and stuccoes, we find evidence of ancient Como, from prehistoric to Roman times, and valuable finds from Greece and Egypt. These include even a mummy, which has aroused fear and curiosity among Como’s children for generations. 

Just pass the adjacent side of the square to enter the second museum in this quiet and fascinating corner of the city, the Museo Storico Giuseppe Garibaldi (Giuseppe Garibaldi Historical Museum). History buffs can find everything about the Italian Risorgimento and the wars of the 20th century here. In the building that houses the museum, Palazzo Olginati, the Italian national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi stayed in 1866. 

Walking down via Giovio, past the lovely cafés, we arrive with a surprise at an open space with a large 17th-century building housing the Pinacoteca Civica art gallery. For art lovers, the Pinacoteca offers citizens and tourists a prestigious and valuable heritage of works from the Middle Ages to the contemporary age, with futurist and abstractionist works. 

Museum: art, science, history
To visit in the walled city
Museo Archeologico Paolo Giovo, piazza Medaglie d’Oro 1
Museo Storico Giuseppe Garibaldi, piazza Medaglie d’Oro 1
Pinacoteca Civica, via Diaz 84
Porta di Como Romana, largo Gianfranco Miglio 1

To visit a bit outside the walled city
Mu.R.A.C Museo Rifugi Antiaerei, via Italia Libera 11
Museo delle Scienze Casartelli, via Cavallotti 7

Silk
Como is known worldwide for its natural beauty, villas, magnificent views of its lake, and silk, which experienced its golden age here between the 19th and 20th centuries. Just think that Como houses a high school called ‘Setificio’ that teaches young students textile art and fashion in the wake of the city’s silk tradition. Right next to the school, just outside the centre, we find the Museo della Seta (silk museum) that, through a 12-room itinerary, tells the story of the silk production process, from the silkworm to the made-up garment and fashion collections. 

As Como is the city of silk, for anyone visiting, a stop in the Como boutiques to buy scarves and fine clothes, which are the essence of the city’s elegance and tradition, is a must.

Leaving Como behind and continuing for about 6 kilometres to Cernobbio – a charming lakeside village that is home to the luxurious Villa d’Este hotel and the splendid Villa Erba congress and exhibition centre – with astonishment, we come across a magnificent example of Art Nouveau architecture, Villa Bernasconi. The villa – which is now an interesting multi-sensory and interactive museum that tells the stories of those who lived there – was home to Davide Bernasconi, a notable figure in the Como silk industry, founder of Tessiture Seriche Bernasconi, active until 1971. 

Museums: silk
To visit in Como
Museo della Seta, via Castelnuovo 9

To visit in Cernobbio
Villa Bernasconi, largo Campanini 2, Cernobbio

Sailing
If we continue northwards along the lake from Cernobbio, after about 40 kilometres, we reach Pianello del Lario, a pretty village on the shores of the lake. Here, in a splendid 19th-century spinning mill, we find a gem, the Museo Barca Lariana (Lake Como International Museum of Vintage Boats), which preserves hundreds of historical hulls that tell the story of Lake Como and Italian boating. In one of the museum’s rooms, we can admire the Venetian gondolas built on Lake Como, status symbols for the gentlemen who began to live in the luxurious lakeside villas from the 18th century onwards. 

Little further south from Pianello del Lario, on the other side of the lake, in splendid Bellagio, in an old tower house, the Museo degli Strumenti per la Navigazione (Museum of Navigation Instruments). The museum collects more than 200 objects and instruments for navigation at sea, from 18th-century Venetian telescopes, sundials, and compasses to a splendid brass planetarium and some 19th-century sea logbooks.

Museum: sailing
To visit
Museo Barca Lariana, via Regina 1268, Pianello del Lario
Museo degli Strumenti per la Navigazione, piazza Don Miotti, Bellagio

The city of Como is the birthplace of one of the most known scientists worldwide: the physicist Alessandro Volta, inventor of the electric battery in 1800. Just think that the unit for measuring voltage is named ‘Volt’ in his honour! Alessandro was born in Como in 1745. His city has honoured him with monuments, a square, and a high school. His effigy was once on the 10,000 lire note, together with the Tempio Voltiano, a place of great artistic and scientific interest standing between the stadium and the lakeside gardens. 

Como and Alessandro Volta

The neoclassical Tempio Voltiano, designed by architect Federico Frigerio, was donated to Como in the centenary year of Alessandro Volta’s death (1927). Visiting the monument means immersing oneself in the scientist’s life and his experiments – from the very beginning to the electrical battery – thanks to the original instruments on display in the showcases, surrounded by the natural beauty that makes Como the place to be.

If we walk from the Tempio Voltiano towards the city centre along the lake, which opens in all its beauty to our view, and look ahead, high up on the mountain of Brunate, we will see a lighthouse, which at night is tinged with the colours of the Italian flag. That is the Faro Voltiano, built in 1927, designed by engineer Gabriele Giussani to celebrate Alessandro Volta 100 years after his death. Continuing, we come to Piazza Volta, dedicated to Alessandro, who watches tourists and citizens stroll by from the top of his statue in the centre of the square. The square is one of the meeting places of Como nightlife, with its cocktail bars that come alive in the evening and that, during the summer, offer outdoor tables to enjoy all the pleasure of a holiday in Como.

The places dedicated to Alessandro Volta are a common thread running through the visit to the city. We can walk through the walled city, with its enchanting streets and squares opening up before us, to the Liceo Volta, where the great physicist taught students lucky enough to have Alessandro Volta as a professor. Inside the Liceo is an extraordinary collection of scientific instruments and naturalistic exhibits open to the public. Not far from the Liceo, at the southwestern end of the walled city, is the Torre Gattoni, where Alessandro conducted his first experiments. The Torre was also the site of Como’s first electrical lighting cabin. 

Como and Alessandro Volta
To visit in town
Tempio Voltiano, viale Marconi
Statua di Alessandro Volta, piazza Volta
Liceo Volta, via Cesare Cantù 57
Torre Gattoni, at the intersection between viale Varese and viale Cattaneo

To visit outside the city centre
Tomba di Alessandro Volta, via Luigi Clerici
Faro voltiano, via Giacomo Scalini, località San Maurizio, Brunate

Architecture holds a privileged place in the history of Como, and this becomes even clearer when strolling through the stunning city streets. Between the two World Wars, one of the projects of Como architect Giuseppe Terragni, Casa del Fascio (1932), just behind the cathedral, becomes the symbol of the Italian rationalism movement. From the center, walking through the charming squares and streets with their traditional Italian restaurants and boutiques, we can head to the rationalism quarter up to Stadio Sinigaglia, home to Como 1907. On the way, at the apex of Diga Foranea, we can stop by Life Electric by starchitect Daniel Libeskind for a memorable souvenir photo or selfie in a spectacular Italian landscape. 

The rationalism quarter

The rationalism movement brought great architects and artists to Como, whose works gave the city a distinctive character, made of essential lines with decorative elements expunged. At the side of the stadium, to our great surprise when turning around, is the magnificent Novocomum (1929), a project by architect Giuseppe Terragni. Novocomum – known as “Transatlantico” (ocean liner) due to its appearance reminiscent of a ship – is the first valuable example of Italian rationalism. 

From the rooftop, one has a privileged view of the mountains, the lake and its villas on the shores, and the stadium, built between 1925 and 1927. The stadium building keeps concrete-framed glass blocks from the original project from which a special light filters through on sunny days. 

Next to the stadium stands Monumento ai Caduti, dedicated to the soldiers who died during WWI. Urban visionary Antonio Sant’Elia’s design was the inspiration for the project. 

We only have to turn towards Brunate and its funicular, which takes tourists to a stunning village on top of the mountain with liberty villas, to catch a glimpse of an iconic monument, the Tempio Voltiano, whose image stood out on the 10,000 lire note until the introduction of the Euro. Tempio Voltiano houses Alessandro Volta’s scientific instruments, and it is the perfect place to grasp the grandeur of the most known physicist from Como, who invented the electric battery in 1800. The temple style is neoclassical, far from the lines of rationalism, but in flawless dialogue with the nearby monuments.

Rationalism architecture in Como

To visit around Stadio Sinigaglia

Novocomum, viale Sinigaglia 1

Monumento ai Caduti, viale Puecher

Canottieri Lario, viale Puecher 6

Aeroclub Como, viale Masia 44

Casa Giuliani-Frigerio, viale Rosselli 24

To visit in town

Casa del Fascio, piazza del Popolo 4

Asilo Sant’Elia, via Alciato 15

Fontana di Camerlata, piazza Camerlata

Hotels

If we move from here towards the town of Cernobbio, following the spectacular Villa Olmo promenade where we can smell the scent of flowers in spring, right behind Villa Olmo, we find the Hilton Lake Como Hotel, which opened in 2018 in an area that used to house a silk factory. The building is reminiscent of industrial architecture, with large windows and a rooftop with a swimming pool, offering a stunning panorama while drinking a cocktail. On the opposite shore of the lake, in Torno, is Il Sereno Hotel by architect and designer Patricia Urquiola, who reinterpreted Giuseppe Terragni’s Casa del Fascio in a contemporary manner. We can get to the hotel by boat after a lovely day of sailing.

To visit

Hilton Lake Como, via Borgo Vico 241, Como
Il Sereno, via Torrazza 10, Torno

Isola Comacina and their artists’ houses

Right in front of Ossuccio’s shores is Isola Comacina, the only island on Lake Como. Here, in the first decades of the last century, Milan’s Brera Academy of Fine Arts promoted an experimental project for three stone houses by local architect Pietro Lingeri intended to host artists aiming at spending some time in an iconic and inspiring environment.

Did you know…?

The first concrete building in Como is Politeama, designed by architect Federico Frigerio and built in 1910. Once a theatre and then a cinema, today it is awaiting renovation. Politeama is in Piazza Cacciatori delle Alpi 3, in the center of the town. We can visit it before taking an ‘aperitivo’ and having dinner in one of the elegant cocktail bars and restaurants in the historic town.