Bellagio lies at the top of the
"Larian triangle", on the
promontory that divides the Como branch from that of Lecco. You can reach it by
boat from either Como or Lecco.
It is no mistake that Bellagio is called the
"pearl" of Lake Como. It is undoubtedly the most famous resort on the lake. For
centuries, its scenic location has enchanted artists and writers, not only from
Italy, but also from abroad. It is situated on the tip of a headland that
divides the lake into the two legs of Como and Lecco.
The town stretches along the coast and part of it goes up the slopes of the
promontory.
Because of its location it has a great variety of
views; indeed, it offers a good view of the whole lake. On the northern horizon
one can see the Pre-Alps.
Some of the best views can be seen from the park
of Villa Serbelloni and from the top of Monte San Primo. On a particularly clear
day, one can make out the Alps, from Mont Blanc to the Ortles, and the Madonnina
on top of the Duomo of Milan.
Both the historic
center situated at a higher level dominated by the Romanesque Basilica Of San
Giacomo (enlarged in the Baroque Age) and the more recent arcade lake-front are
all preserved intact. Among the aristocratic villas let's remember Villa Serbelloni,
first castle, then country residence and transformed into villa at
the end of the 15th century. Later once again restructured in the 17th and
turned into a hotel during the last decade of the 19th century, it is presently
appointed headquarters of conventions and study tours.
The park - the lake's
largest- extends all over the entire promontory to the small town's mount with a
splendid view onto the two branches of the Lake. Viewing the lake is the
Neo-classical Villa Melzi, from the extremely sober and elegant forms, realized
between the 1808 and 1810 and based on Giacomo Albertelli's project for the
Count Francesco Melzi, vice-president and Chancellor of the Kingdom of Italy.
Described by Stendhal, this noble residence as well had among its guests famous
personalities: from the Emperors Francesco I and Ferdinand of Austria to the
musician Liszt. Worthy of mention as well, Villa Trivulzio, built in the 18th
century and restored a century later with its grand English-style park, and
Villa Trotti, in its neo-Gothic remake with Moorish decorations and with
rarities that enrich the park.
Menaggio
Then you reach Menaggio (located about halfway up the western
shore and at the exit of the highway coming from Lugano) important commercial
and services center besides a well-known resort place to stay. At two
kilometers, up the hill, you find the hamlet of Loveno, Here Villa Mylius Vigoni
rises, restored by Gaetano Besia at the request of German banker and Enrico
Mylius in the first half of the 19th century , characterized by an interesting
English-style park that develops at its back, and today headquarters of the of
the Italo-German Villa Vignoni center, important place of meetings for seminars
an conventions.
Varenna
From Menaggio the boat crosses the Lake in about 15 minutes to
land on the eastern bank, at Varena, terminus with Cadenabbia of the ferryboat
service for vehicles, situated on a promontory at the mouth of the Esino stream.
The center, structured according to the design lay-out of Roman origin, and
village fortified in the Middle Ages, still preserves town-planning and
buildings of unique value.
Here, in the nearby church of San Giorgio of the 14th
century, later re-elaborated in the 17th -18th century, two tall villas rise.
Villa Isimbardi or dei Cipressi (of the Cypresses), 19th century reconstruction
of an older building, with suggestive terraces and rows of Cypresses, and Villa
Monastero, directly in fronted over the waters of the Lake, its name comes from
the original all-women monastery active here between the '200 and '500,
transformed later in residence in the second half of the 16th century at the
request of Paolo Mornico.
Interesting not too far from Varenna, is Fumelatte
(Milk River), hamlet of the same name as its characteristic stream, very short
and foaming course, springs back to life every year in the Spring from a
mountain grotto; it empties into the Lake after only 250 meters (it is matter of
fact the shortest in Italy) and even Leonardo da Vinci in the Atlantic Code
mentioned it.
Bellano
Resuming our course, always along this shore we reach Bellano.
Up stream from the inhabited area, the suggestive ravine formed by the Pioverna
is visitable. The boat, crossing the lake once again, reaches the western shore.
The northern features of the bank offers a landscape no longer characterized by
the charm of the villas' gardens. The settlement history is more diverse. Here
the villages were born first much in higher areas or halfway down the hillside,
and only much later did they build along the bank. After the first landing at
the hamlet of Acquaserie you pass in front of Santa Maria di Rezzonico, a small
city dominated by the remains of the Castello della Torre, a little more than
200 meters of altitude, of which remain only the foundations of the wall and a
14th century crenellated Tower. The next landing place is out by the other side
of the Lake at Pianello and immediately thereafter at Dongo. In Pianello you
find a 19th century mill that today hosts the Collection of the Larian Boat,
with more than a hundred boats, implements and accessories of the '700 and later.
Opposite the
beautiful Piona peninsula thereafter we land at Gravedona, already an important
center in the Romantic period, it later became chief town of the Community of
the Tre Pievi - Three Parishes - (Sorico, Dongo and Gravedona). Diverse reasons
for architectonic interest, beginning whit the church of Santa Maria del Tiglio
(13th cent.), with two-colored borders on the exterior and an octagonal bell
tower at the center of the facade. Then there is Palazzo Gallio, planed by
Pellegrino Tibaldi for the Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio, begun in 1583 and later
completed in 1620. After a departing a few minutes from Gravedona we land at
Domaso, crowed against the slopes of the Sasso Pelo, at the mouth of the Livio
stream. During the Charlemagne Era, it was part of the famous Reichenau
monastery on the Costanza Lake. Here too are some villas of the 19th and 20th
cent., like Villa Camilla, site of the Town Hall.
Piona
To the south of Colico
meriting a stop, Abbazzia (Abbey) di Piona, with its beautiful view over the
Lake. It is one of the major complexes of interest for the typical Romanesque
style of the Como tradition. Founded on the summit of the peninsula in the 13th
century by the Benedictine monks of Cluny, after a period of decline the
construction was restored at the beginning of the '900, and from the 1937
belongs to the Cistercians of the Cosamari Abbey (Frosinone). To visit also the
Church of San Nicolao (12th cent.) rising on a pre-existing building, with the
belfry, rebuilt in the 18th cent. after the fall of the original, and the
enclosure of the middle of the 13th cent. (recently restored), where Romantic
and Gothic elements are found, surrounded by a lovely four-sided arcade in white
and black marble.
From Damaso the journey continues onto the other shore towards
Colico, important communications center since antiquity due to the roads coming
from Lecco, Chiavenna and Sondrio. Precisely for this strategic position
suffered invasions and devastations which, coupled with the frequent flooding
caused by the Adda, provoked an almost complete decrease in population at the
end of the 17th century.
The reason for its come back was the reopening of the
passage of the Stelvio, of the Maloja and of the Spulga. The landscape is of
particular interest, with the characteristic construction in schistose stone
and, to the north of Colico, the rains of the Forte di Fuentes, star-shaped
defensive bulwark, completed by the Spanish governor of the same name and
demolished by Napoleon at the end of the 18th century.
From Colico you can take the Trenitalia state railway back to
Lecco and Milano. The train tracks run on the Lecco side of the lake, should you
need to go back to Como be aware that there is a connection between Lecco and Como,
but with only a few trains.
