First Basin
Como
The city of silk and rationalist architecture, with the lake reaching right into the centre.
Como and the First Basin
Como, the funicular to Brunate and the villas along the shore as far as Argegno.
- How long to stay
- 1–2 nights, or as your gateway
- From Milan
- 40 min
- From Como
- —
- From Lecco
- 1 h 05
- Places
- 12
- Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Carlo Cattaneo fotografie · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Zairon · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ysogo · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Yiyi · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Biliana Rousseva · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kaitu · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ysogo · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wiki rkit · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Jeroen Komen · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Riccardo Ortelli · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Maurizio Moro5153 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Character
The first basin is the southern part of the Como branch, from the city up to Argegno.
Como, a city of about eighty thousand people, lies at the end of the lake between two ridges that drop steeply to the water; along the shores villas follow one another, many of them from the nineteenth century. From Milan the train takes about forty minutes.
This is the most urban part of the lake. Como has a long tradition in silk, Giuseppe Terragni's rationalist buildings beside the Gothic and Renaissance cathedral, and many commuters who cross the Swiss border every day for work.
Wooded slopes dropping steeply to the water, wrought-iron gates, private jetties and the funicular climbing straight up to Brunate.
On the map
© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Places in this area
First BasinCernobbio
A square on the water ten minutes from Como, and the grand hotel behind the plane trees.
First BasinBrunate
The village above Como, seven minutes by funicular and five hundred metres higher.
First BasinTorno
Two small harbours, the church of San Giovanni with its Romanesque bell tower, and Villa Pliniana just outside the village.
First BasinArgegno
A medieval bridge, a red cable car, and the valley that leads to Switzerland.
First BasinMoltrasio
The village of Moltrasio stone, just past Cernobbio: houses stepped above the mill stream, the Scala Santa running down to the lake and the villas where Bellini lived.
First BasinLaglio
Five hamlets of Moltrasio stone on the western shore, where the lake is at its narrowest and deepest: the waterfront with its sculptures, San Giorgio and the boatwrights' yard.
First BasinBlevio
The first village on the eastern shore after Como: seven hamlets on the slope linked by the Strada Regia, and the villas where Giuditta Pasta and Maria Taglioni lived.
Things to see
Spina Verde Regional Park, Como
The wooded hill west of Como, a regional park since 1993: thirteen trails of the park authority among Castel Baradello, the remains of proto-historic Como at Pianvalle, the Sant'Eutichio cross and the trenches of the Great War.
45 min – 3 h
Santi Martino e Agata, Moltrasio
The parish church of Moltrasio's Borgo, recorded as early as 1207 and lengthened in 1935 with its stone front: inside, frescoes by the Recchi brothers, paintings by Fiammenghino and Alvise Donati's altarpiece of 1507.
15–30 min
Villa Olmo
The Odescalchi family's neoclassical villa on the lake at Como, now owned by the city, with a formal Italian garden towards the lake and an English park behind.
45 min – 2 h
Villa del Grumello park
The four-hectare romantic park of a sixteenth-century lakeside villa in Como, at the centre of the Chilometro della Conoscenza; Ugo Foscolo stayed here as a guest of the Giovio family.
45 min – 1 h 30
Villa Erba
Luchino Visconti's childhood villa, now an exhibition centre.
1 h – 1 h 30
Villa Bernasconi
A silk industrialist's Art Nouveau villa in Cernobbio, decorated with silkworms, butterflies and mulberry leaves: today a municipal museum.
45 min – 1 h 15
Como Cathedral
Como's cathedral, built between 1396 and 1740, from the Gothic of its facade to Filippo Juvarra's eighteenth-century dome.
30 min – 1 h
Basilica of Sant'Abbondio
Como's Romanesque basilica, consecrated in 1095, with a nave and four aisles, twin bell towers and an apse frescoed in the fourteenth century.
30–45 min
Experiences
First Basin
Rationalist Como
A morning on foot among the buildings of Como's Rationalism.
2 h 30 – 4 hOpen access
First Basin
Como silk
The Silk Museum, the Fondazione Ratti and the weavers' showrooms.
2 h – 4 h
First Basin
Sunset from above
Four places to watch the sunset over the lake: Brunate and Pigra high above the Como branch, the Castello di Vezio above Varenna and Punta Spartivento at Bellagio.
1 h 30 – 2 h 30
First Basin
The lake by boat, Como to Colico
From Como to Colico by boat, from one end of the lake to the other: a little over four hours, with about twenty stops in the villages on both shores.
3 h – 5 h
Where to stay
Events
Until31Dec
200VOLTeVOLTA — the Alessandro Volta bicentenary
Two hundred years since Volta's death: talks, visits and exhibitions, in Como and beyond.
Tempio Voltiano, Villa del Grumello and other venues
Until31Dec
Morazzone a Como
Morazzone in Como's cathedral, four hundred years after his death.
Sacrestia dei Mansionari, Como Cathedral, Piazza Duomo
Until17Jan 2027
Opera season at the Teatro Sociale di Como
Opera at the Teatro Sociale on Piazza Verdi, with productions from the OperaLombardia network.
Teatro Sociale di Como, Piazza Verdi
Until10Jan 2027
Di piega in piega: the gesture of cloth
The pleat in cloth, from the making to Capucci's gowns: an autumn and winter exhibition at the Silk Museum.
Silk Museum, Via Castelnuovo 9, Como
Indicative dates follow the annual recurrence and should be confirmed with the organiser.
The other areas
- Centro LagoBellagio, Varenna and Menaggio, linked to one another by ferry.
- 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.