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From Como to Colico, from Bellagio between the two branches to Lecco: the 45 villages and towns of the Lario, what to see, how long you need and how to get there.

A lit chapel on a ridge above the middle of the lake, the branch receding between snowy mountains.Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0

45destinations

ListMap
First Basin

Como

The city of silk and rationalist architecture, with the lake reaching right into the centre.

Como is a walled city of Roman origin, where silk has been woven and printed since the late eighteenth century. Its historic centre preserves the grid plan of the Roman town.

Ideal for
Arrivals, architecture, rainy days
Time needed
Half a day for the centre, a full day with Brunate
Best reached by
Train from Milan (40 min), the A9 motorway, boat
What to see
The funicular up to Brunate at sunset
First Basin

Torno

Two small harbours, the church of San Giovanni with its Romanesque bell tower, and Villa Pliniana just outside the village.

Half an hour by boat from Como, Torno is a village of staircases and archways, with two tiny harbours and the church of San Giovanni with its Renaissance doorway. People swim from the rocks and platforms along the shore.

Ideal for
Half a day, lunch on the water, a swim
Time needed
Two or three hours
Best reached by
Boat from Como (about 30 min), C130 bus
What to see
The doorway of the church of San Giovanni
Upper Lake

Gravedona ed Uniti

A Romanesque church on the water and the historic capital of the Tre Pievi.

Gravedona was for centuries the centre of the Tre Pievi, the upper lake's de facto small republic, and it keeps two monuments: Santa Maria del Tiglio, the Romanesque church with its tower built into the facade, and Palazzo Gallio, which Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio had built on the shore in 1586.

Ideal for
Romanesque art, watersports
Time needed
Half a day
Best reached by
C110 bus from Como and Menaggio, boat
What to see
Santa Maria del Tiglio in black and white bands
Lecco Branch

Esino Lario

A village at 910 metres, under the Grigna, twelve kilometres of hairpins above Varenna.

Esino Lario lies at 910 metres, twelve kilometres of hairpin bends above Varenna. In June 2016 the village hosted Wikimania, the Wikimedia community's annual conference.

Ideal for
Walking at altitude, mountain huts, escaping the heat
Time needed
A day; two or three nights if you are going up the Grigna
Best reached by
Bus from Varenna, or twelve kilometres of hairpins by car
What to see
The Cainallo and the start of the path to the Grigna
Centro Lago

Sala Comacina

The village facing the Isola Comacina: the old fishing village below the parish church of San Bartolomeo, the Greenway running through it and the Beccaria villa on the point.

The old village of Sala Comacina lies down below the parish church of San Bartolomeo: steep stepped lanes, passages between low houses and remnants of old walls. Some fifty fishermen's hearths once stood here, beside the ruins of a medieval stronghold pulled down in the wars between the islanders and Como.

Ideal for
The old stepped village, the Greenway, the view of the Isola Comacina
Time needed
An hour in the village; half a day with the island or a stretch of the Greenway
Best reached by
C110 bus from Como or Menaggio; boat on the Como–Colico line
What to see
The stepped lanes below San Bartolomeo
First Basin

Carate Urio

Two villages joined in 1927 between Moltrasio and Laglio: Carate below Santa Marta and the chapels of its Way of the Cross, Urio with its Romanesque bell tower and the boat pier.

Carate Urio was born in 1927 from the union of two comuni, Carate Lario and Urio, on the western shore between Moltrasio and Laglio, and its territory climbs from the shore to the woods of Monte Comana and Monte Colmegnone. The name Carate is thought to be Celtic, meaning “place of stone”, after the quarries of Moltrasio stone worked since antiquity.

Ideal for
Romanesque churches on the old Regina, the stairway of the Way of the Cross, walks towards the mountains
Time needed
A couple of hours between Santa Marta and Urio; half a day with Pobiano
Best reached by
C110 bus from Como in about twenty minutes; boat on the Como–Colico line at Urio
What to see
The stairway of the Way of the Cross up to Santa Marta
First Basin

Faggeto Lario

A shore on the lake and three villages halfway up the slope, Molina, Lemna and Palanzo, linked by the Strada Regia: churches from Romanesque to the seventeenth century, the gorge, and above it all Monte Palanzone.

Faggeto Lario was born in 1928 from the union of Molina and Palanzo with Lemna, which was already the “comune de Ripalempna” in 1335. Its territory stretches from the lakeshore up to the 1436-metre summit of the Palanzone, 13 kilometres from Como and 18 from Bellagio.

Ideal for
The Strada Regia between three hillside villages, churches with Romanesque towers, the Palanzone on foot
Time needed
Half a day between the hamlets; a day with the Palanzone
Best reached by
C130 bus from Como in about half an hour; some boats on the Como–Colico line
What to see
The Madonna del Soldo above Palanzo

All 45 entries in this list.