Handpicked experience · Milan
Milan, Italy
A glacial trench whose floor lies below sea level, the shortest river in Italy at Varenna, and two daily winds that decide whether the lake is glass or chop.
One day covering both arms of the lake and the point between them
An hour on the water, seeing the shoreline the way it was meant to be seen
Gardens running down to the water on the Como shore, open to walk
Unhurried time to wander Bellagio and Varenna at your own pace
A long day out of Milan to the three towns that define Lake Como: Como itself at the foot of the western branch, Bellagio on the promontory where the lake divides, and Varenna facing it across the water. Roughly eleven hours door to door.
The morning is spent getting north and onto the water; the afternoon belongs to the two lakeside towns, where the plan is deliberately loose and you set your own pace between the waterfront, the stepped lanes and a table somewhere with a view. Distances on the ground are short, but they are almost all vertical.
Como is shaped like an upside-down Y, and it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe at around four hundred and ten metres. Since the surface sits only about two hundred metres above sea level, the bottom of the lake lies roughly two hundred metres below it — a hole gouged by glaciers far deeper than the sea it drains towards. The same geology explains why the towns are strung along a narrow shelf at the water's edge and climb steeply the moment you leave it.
At Varenna a stream called the Fiumelatte runs about two hundred and fifty metres from the rock to the lake and then stops. It flows only from around late March to October and is dry the rest of the year, and its white, churning water is where the name — milk river — comes from. Leonardo da Vinci went looking for its source and wrote about it in his notebooks; nobody has traced it conclusively since.
The neoclassical villa on the Como shore takes its name from a single elm tree that stood on the site and has long since gone. It was finished in the 1790s for a branch of the Odescalchi family, and Napoleon stayed in it not long after the plasterwork dried. A few minutes further along the same promenade stands a small domed building dedicated to Alessandro Volta, a Como man who stacked discs of zinc and copper in 1800 and gave his name to the volt.
The lake breathes twice a day. The Tivano comes down off the mountains in the early morning; the Breva comes up from the south in the afternoon and raises the small chop you will feel on the water. Sailors here have used both for centuries, and the switch between them is the reason mornings on the lake are usually glassy and afternoons are not.
It is a full day with an early start and a late return. Both towns are built on slopes and stairs, with cobbles throughout, so shoes matter more than anything else you pack. Cancellation is free up to a day ahead.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
About eleven hours from leaving Milan to getting back, with the morning spent travelling north and onto the water and the afternoon in Bellagio and Varenna.
Around four hundred and ten metres. Because the surface is only about two hundred metres above sea level, the lake floor sits roughly two hundred metres below it — a glacial trench cut deeper than the sea it drains towards.
The shortest river in Italy, at Varenna: about two hundred and fifty metres from rock to lake, flowing only from roughly late March to October. Leonardo da Vinci searched for its source and never settled the question.
For an elm tree that once stood on the site and is long gone. The house was completed in the 1790s for a branch of the Odescalchi family, and Napoleon stayed there soon afterwards.
Two named winds. The Tivano falls from the mountains at dawn, and the Breva pushes up from the south in the afternoon, raising the short chop you feel on the water.
Not far in distance, but almost all of it on slopes, steps and cobbles — both towns are built up the side of a mountain.
Alessandro Volta was from Como, and the domed building on the lakefront commemorates the pile of zinc and copper discs he demonstrated in 1800.