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Brunate

San Donato Hermitage, Como

Visit duration
15–30 min
Booking
Not required
Area
First Basin
The hermitage on its wooded spur: the long ochre buildings with shutters and tiled roofs, on the right the tall stone bell tower among cedars and cypresses, under a blue sky.Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Pietro Berra · CC BY-SA 4.0
  • Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0

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The hermitage on its wooded spur: the long ochre buildings with shutters and tiled roofs, on the right the tall stone bell tower among cedars and cypresses, under a blue sky.

Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Why go

The Eremo di San Donato is a former monastic complex above Garzola on the path between Como and Brunate, overlooking the city and lake.

It belonged to the Benedictines before passing to the Franciscans in the fifteenth century, with a permanent grant in 1458. The church was enlarged and reconsecrated in 1565. After the convent was suppressed in 1772, the complex was converted into homes. The bell tower, small cloister and single-nave church survive, with a side chapel and an apse with an umbrella vault. A doorway leads to the cave associated with Blessed Geremia Lambertenghi.

  • A fifteenth-century hermitage on a spur above the city, along the old path between Como and Brunate.
  • The small cloister and the church's umbrella-vaulted apse.

Highlights

  • The tall stone bell tower
  • The church reconsecrated in 1565
  • The rocky spur above the city

Getting there

  • It stands above Como, in the Garzola district, on the Salita San Donato: this is one of the two paths down from Brunate to the city on foot, the other running beside the funicular.

On the map

Explore the lake
BrunateSan Donato Hermitage, Como

© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL

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Sources and credits

Verified at source7 Oct 2026Lombardia Beni Culturaliopens in a new tab

Sources and credits

Verified at source7 Oct 2026Lombardia Beni Culturaliopens in a new tab