Practical guide

It is raining — what do I do?

Illustration

The short answer

You can visit the Silk Museum, the Tempio Voltiano, the Pinacoteca and the cathedral in Como, or the Moto Guzzi Museum in Mandello. In Bellano, the Giancarlo Vitali Museum and Ca' del Diavol offer indoor visits; the Orrido is explored on footbridges through the gorge.

In short

Bellano: the Giancarlo Vitali Museum and Ca' del Diavol have indoor exhibition spaces. The Orrido route includes footbridges, steps and narrow passages.
Como: the Silk Museum, the Tempio Voltiano, the Pinacoteca and the cathedral offer indoor visits. The Roman baths are on Viale Lecco.
Como, beneath the Red Cross building on Via Italia Libera: MuRAC preserves the 1937 air-raid shelter and explores Como's Red Cross from the wars of independence to the Second World War. Visits are guided and require booking.
Moto Guzzi Museum, Mandello: the collection is housed inside the factory.
On the Ghisallo, the Cycling Museum stands beside the cyclists' chapel.
Tremezzo: the Landscape Museum at Villa Mainona preserves historic prints and photographs of the lake.
Varenna: the Museo Ornitologico Scanagatta, more than eight hundred birds and mammals of the lake and mountains, entered through the infopoint.
Bellano: alongside the gorge, the Museo Giancarlo Vitali in Palazzo Lorla, a hundred works by the village's painter, with the same hours and a combined ticket.
The boat with its covered deck, to see the lake in the rain too.
Villa Manzoni in Lecco offers an indoor museum visit.

On rainy days you can visit the museums and churches of Como and Lecco and, along the shores, museums such as the Moto Guzzi Museum in Mandello and the Museo Barca Lariana in Pianello.

The gorges and some garden paths may close in bad weather.

Gorges and gardens in the rain

Stream flow changes with rainfall. The Orrido di Bellano route includes footbridges along the walls, steps and narrow passages. Before visiting, check route conditions and opening notices. At Nesso, the descent towards the bridge includes many steps, which can become slippery.

To visit a garden in the rain, check access conditions. Bad weather can affect whether paths are open.

Como, under cover

In Como, indoor visits include the Silk Museum, the Tempio Voltiano, the cathedral with its sixteenth-century tapestries and the Pinacoteca. The Silk Museum is on Via Castelnuovo, outside the old town. Rationalist buildings are spread across the city, and journeys between them include outdoor stretches.

Lecco has Villa Manzoni, the mountain museum and the three museums in Palazzo Belgiojoso; Mandello has the Moto Guzzi Museum.

Along the shores are the Museum of the End of the War in Dongo and the wooden Last Supper at the Madonna delle Lacrime, the four hundred boats of the Museo Barca Lariana in Pianello, the 1818 throwing machine at the Setificio Monti in Abbadia and Villa Bernasconi in Cernobbio.