Centro Lago
Bellagio
On the point that splits the lake in two, with staircases instead of streets.
Centro Lago — the Heart of the Lake
Bellagio, Varenna and Menaggio, linked to one another by ferry.
- How long to stay
- 3–4 nights
- From Milan
- 1 h 25
- From Como
- 1 h
- From Lecco
- 50 min
- Places
- 10
- Deensel · CC BY 2.0
- Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Mauro Cassina · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Sembra2001 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Daderot · Public domain
- Uppa66 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Character
The centre of the lake is where it divides into the Como and Lecco branches.
On all three shores there are villas with gardens running down to the water, and the ferries link one village to the next in about fifteen minutes. So you can stay a few nights without a car and see all three shores by boat.
Bellagio sits on the tip of the headland; Varenna, on the eastern shore, has houses built on the rock; Menaggio, on the western shore, has a broad lakefront and the services of a large village. The ferry that links them runs frequently, so moving between them is easy.
The three shores facing one another, the cypresses of the gardens and, to the east, the Grigna.
On the map
© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Places in this area
Centro LagoVarenna
Ochre houses on the water, two botanical gardens on the shore and Vezio castle above the village.
Centro LagoMenaggio
In the middle of the lake, between the ferry, the Regina road and the bus to Lugano.
Centro LagoTremezzina
Four villages in a row on the lake's western shore, facing Bellagio.
Centro LagoColonno
The start of the Greenway, with lakeside stretches, villages and climbs and descents.
Centro LagoSala 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.
Centro LagoGriante
The village above Cadenabbia, facing Bellagio: the ferry pier, the Anglican church of 1891, Villa La Collina and the little church on the rock above the village.
Centro LagoCremia
Sixteen hamlets from the lake up the mountainside, on the western shore of the upper lake: on the shore San Vito, with a slightly leaning little Romanesque tower beside the tall domed one, on the Vignola plateau the parish church and the town hall, and higher up the stone huts.
Things to see
Villa Carlotta
A late seventeenth-century villa with a museum of neoclassical sculpture and eight hectares of garden on baroque terraces, among camellias and rhododendrons.
1 h 30 – 3 h
Lake Como Landscape Museum
The lake in old prints and photographs, at Villa Mainona, a seventeenth-century house at Tremezzo.
45 min – 1 h 15
Villa del Balbianello
An eighteenth-century FAI villa on the tip of the Lavedo headland at Lenno, with the Durini loggia above the lake and a terraced garden.
1 h 30 – 2 h 30
Villa Melzi Gardens
The English garden of Francesco Melzi d'Eril's neoclassical villa at Bellagio, almost all of it level along the shore.
45 min – 1 h 30
Villa Serbelloni Park
The park on the Bellagio headland, with paths and terraces above both branches of the lake. Visits are guided, with advance booking and limited places.
1 h 30 – 2 h
Villa Monastero
Varenna's former Cistercian convent, now a house museum, with a botanical garden running for almost two kilometres along the shore.
1 h – 2 h
Villa Cipressi Gardens
The garden of a Varenna hotel, open to the public: terraces among cypresses stepping down to the lake.
30 min – 1 h
Villa Balbiano
Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio's late sixteenth-century villa, today a private house.
1 h – 1 h 30
Experiences
Centro Lago
The ferry triangle
Bellagio, Varenna, Menaggio: three shores of the central lake, ten minutes to half an hour apart by ferry.
4 h – 8 h
Centro Lago
The villa and garden circuit
Five great gardens within twenty minutes' sailing of one another.
5 h – 12 h
Centro Lago
Eating the lake's fish
Missoltini with polenta, whitefish and perch: how the lake cooks its fish.
1 h 30 – 2 h 30
Centro Lago
Walking the Greenway
About eleven kilometres from Colonno to Griante, through villages, along mule tracks and beside the lake.
3 h – 5 h11.3 km · +214 mOpen access
Where to stay
- VarennaA station on the line from Milan, and ferries to Bellagio and Menaggio.
- MenaggioCentre-lake ferries and buses to Como and Lugano.
- BellagioOn the headland between the two branches, with centre-lake ferries.
- TremezzinaSleeping among the villas and gardens of the shore, with Villa Carlotta on foot.
Events
Until6Dec
Sunday markets
Local craft stalls on Lungolago Europa.
Lungolago Europa, BellagioFree entry
Until8Dec
European dynasties on Lake Como: the Princess of the Netherlands and the Dukes of Saxe-Meiningen at Villa Carlotta
An exhibition at Villa Carlotta on the Dutch princess and the dukes of Sachsen Meiningen, for the bicentenary of Georg II.
Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo
Until8Dec
Saluti da Villa Carlotta: postcards from the archive
The old postcards in Villa Carlotta's Historical Archive show how the garden, the villa and the landscape around them have changed.
Villa Carlotta, Tremezzo
Until31Jan 2027
Marco and Rosa De Marchi: a villa, a collection, a love story
Villa Monastero remembers Marco and Rosa De Marchi, who bequeathed it for public use, ninety years after Marco's death.
Villa Monastero, Casa Museo
Indicative dates follow the annual recurrence and should be confirmed with the organiser.
The other areas
- First BasinComo, the funicular to Brunate and the villas along the shore as far as Argegno.
- Upper LakeThe upper lake, north of Menaggio: beaches, sailing and the nearby Alps.
- Lecco BranchThe eastern branch: the Grigne above the lake and a train that stops in almost every village.
- The TriangleThe mountains between the lake's two branches: trails, the Ghisallo and the gorges.
- Val d'IntelviThe valley above Argegno, between Lake Como and Lake Lugano, on the Swiss border.