The Milanese benefit from the geographical good fortune of being positioned a drive away from St Moritz and Courmayeur’s slopes, as well as Cinque Terre for a blast of coastal sunshine, and from the lakes. Lake Como endures as the favourite — and when you consider its sheer, rollercoaster-style topography, its magnetic pull begins to make sense.
There’s energy and drama in its stillness, encased by mountains that gently kiss the clouds then roll down feverishly via forest and trickling streams to meet the lake, continuing some 400 metres below its flat, glassy surface. And it looks good from all angles, at every time of day, perhaps even more so on drizzly mornings when a thick mist clings to the water. It moves through a whole raft of shades in just a few hours, from steely greys to surreal, sparkling blues, and has spiritual currency — perhaps explaining the profusion of popes and cardinals stowing away in the opulent palazzos lining the shore across the centuries.
While impossible to deny Como’s thumping beauty, as the lake becomes increasingly A-lister and big-money-bucket-list (grazie George Clooney), many of its charms are at risk of becoming over-commercialised. Rooms, terraces and experiences can feel overly-choreographed for all the Dolce Vita clichés — and authenticity is easily rung out somewhere between a contrived Bellini picnic experience and pool-side bun fight for a sun lounger.
The best way to avoid this fate is observing how the Italians (in particular the aforementioned Milanese weekend visitors) do Como. I did this, over a long weekend, rigorously scribbling down notes from insiders who I unapologetically mined for nuggets of intel over cocktails. These included Flore Pilzer, one half of the couple behind the quietly beautiful Villa Lario (Milan-based), and Giulia Ceresa of Il Sereno, who had recently moved from Milan to Lake Como, along with various Milanese contacts who make a weekend bolt for the lakes. And it turns out that the truth is: that most drive to their friends’ villas overlooking the water, eat good food, drink good wine, offload gossip and subsume city cortisol in the lake’s ripples. Without the local connections, it’s still possible to do Como the locals way. Here’s where they meet friends for lunch, go for the ‘scene’ before dipping swiftly out, and where they’d choose to stay if they weren’t dropping bags at friends waterfront villas.
Where to eat
L˜ARIA, Mandarin Oriental Lake Como
Even Italians can tire of the same traditional fare, particularly the heartier local Como dishes. Within Mandarin Oriental’s manicured gardens, hanging in Babylonian style above the shimmering lake, is Japanese-Italian fusion restaurant L˜ARIA. Chef Massimiliano Blasone shows off the region’s finest seasonal bounty throughout an intriguing menu, with many dishes designed for sharing.
Inside, it’s a contemporary spin on a greenhouse. While on sunny days, the terrace, with views of the lake framed by potted plants and citrus trees, is the place to be. An after-dinner coffee and walk through the fragrant gardens is a must, and in the height of summer, pool-side NAMI Café serves up fresh, healthy Asian plates in a teak, yacht-like space chiselled into the old arches, overlooking the design feat of a floating pool. mandarinoriental.com
Ristorante Corti dei Platani, Lake Como
A firm favourite with the Italian contingent, Ristorante Crotto dei Platani hovers over the water like a moored yacht in a marina. Its terraces are a picture of lakeside classicism, with tables dressed in white tablecloths and railings lined with large plant pots and greenery. Everything twists towards the Lake, as it should in Como, but there’s a sense here that you’re never short-changed on the view.
Ingredients are sourced from the Como area and the rich, deep flavours (that can only come from tip-top produce) guide the beautifully-presented dishes. Whether tucking into moreish black truffle pasta, a tender, local char fillet sprinkled in capers, or wild suckling pig smothered in fennel sauce, the wine pairings are pitch perfect — and come from cool clutches of an ancient cellar below the restaurant.
There’s an indoor area for cool or soggy days, and when Como switches on the sunshine, there’s really no better terrace to boat up to. crottodeiplatani.it
Trattoria del Glicine
Wrought iron chairs, an untamed tangle of wisteria and blue flashes of the lake below and surrounding, veiny peaks, Trattoria del Glicine is a glorious antidote to the more hyped up Como haunts. It’s confident in its classicism, with wood panelled rooms spilling onto a sigh-inducing terrace and tables groaning beneath plates of perfectly-cooked octopus, beef fillet and ravioli. Italians convene here for lunch, along long breezy tables, or in the evening, for drawn out candle-lit dinners, with the dining rituals present but free of the excessive theatrics of more touristy spots. trattoriadelglicine.com
Bistrot Muralto
In the historic centre of Como town, Bistrot Muralto glows at night, like an amber beacon — its windows revealing a convivial scene of locals gesticulating over wine glasses. By day, they sip coffee in pools of sunlight and sample new plates from an ever-shifting seasonal menu. This perfect sliver of a neighbourhood restaurant feels steeped in nostalgia, as if someone switched on the sepia filter. It’s the stellar work of Davide Grosso, a chef who cut his teeth in Como’s top hotels, then moved his culinary wizardry to a more easy-going spot, where locality sat front and centre. Come here to rediscover old nonna-style recipes with a gourmet twist. bistrotmuralto.it
Restaurant Veranda, Villa D’Este
Practically synonymous with Lake Como, Villa D’Este is your square-jawed, all-the-frills grande dame, whose seasoned waiters must be bursting with starry anecdotes. It’s a truly magical place, whose Belle Epoque period oomph — the draped, chandeliered, lakeside silver-service sort — flies in the face of modernity. It’s also where to go for a wildly flamboyant, no expenses spared lunch. At Restaurant Veranda, waiters move like extras floating through a Dolce Vita musical, lifting shiny cloches and firing up Crêpes Suzettes theatrically — giving the well-dressed crowd what they came for.
Alongside the fairly formal tasting menus is a comfortingly traditional a la carte where everything’s doused in absurd proportions of truffle, caviar or some other louche, local delicacy. The classic pasta with chilli and olive oil offers a brief, albeit still rich, hiatus from the more elaborate plates, while the meatier fish choices appear the restaurant’s forté, along with classic tiramisu with a crunchy twist. This scene spills onto the terrace in warmer months, where everything sparkles — the Ruinard, the lobster, the lake and the diamonds. It’s as if the cypress-shaded gardens were designed to walk off all the excess, dotted in mottled statues and steeped in Hitchcock lore (it’s where he shot The Pleasure Garden). villadeste.com
Il Gatto Nero
Famously one of George Clooney’s favourite restaurants (bear with me here), Il Gatto Nero is a mountain hut that sits high in the hills overlooking the lake. Its menu is wonderfully old school, showcasing the region’s top-drawer produce and age-old, local recipes, with gastronomic flair. While the views during the day are mesmerising, the restaurant itself switches on the charm after dark, where faces are animated by candle-light and plates of creamy pasta are devoured with glasses of local red. figlideifiori.com
La Terrazza 125
This Brienno terrace is carved into ancient walls, with wooden additions reminiscent of a Nordic cabin. It’s a lido and restaurant combined, with a gloriously informal atmosphere and menus that shift effortlessly throughout the day, from breakfasts to dinner via small plates and aperitivo. The form here is to snap up a sun lounger after a long, lazy lunch, take a dip in the lake and soak in the rays until aperitivo hour. Cost-wise, it’s almost inconceivable that the menu prices are as low as they are, considering the knockout view of the lake and surrounding mountains. Via Regina, 122, 22010 Brienno CO, Italy
Where to stay
Il Sereno
Even those who aren’t necessarily enamoured by contemporary design fall head-over-heels for this hotel. Perched like an art installation on a little promontory on the lake’s eastern shore, Il Sereno’s cubic architecture deftly merges into its surroundings, with local timber (sliced into striking grills), stone and glass referencing the lake’s shades and textures, and those of the densely wooded mountains enveloping it. In place of the Maserati-lined entrance of Como’s hefty grande dames is a fairly modest walkway that rises like a catwalk above the main view — the angular, trompe l'oeil pool hovering above the lake, seemingly merging with Como’s great sparkling mass from some angles, and then the jetty and Cantiere Ernesto Rivas swaying impatiently beside it.
Inside, Spanish architect and designer, Patricia Urquiola, has worked her magic on the rooms and spaces. Angular, somewhat stark elemental backdrops are warmed with low-slung leather sofas, sultry uplighting that emits a candle-like glow, and a rich layering of glossy woods, leathers and textured fabrics. The prevailing sense is that you’re floating through a Milanese designer’s mood board (which you are), particularly in the rooms where enormous, sleep-stealing beds are backed by a padded screen depicting the surrounding woodland, the bathroom heaves with green Italian marble, and up-lit walnut panelling and furniture softens all the modernity. Balconies tip over the lake, and the attention to detail is remarkable (note the magnified makeup mirror that flips up beside the sink with a thick leather strap). While the ‘shoppable’ penthouse is a paean to contemporary lakeside living, with tactile materials smothering every wall, handle, sliding screen and door.
Inhabiting the Medieval arches of the original villa, as a sort of foundational antiquity holding up all the brave newness, the restaurant, Al Lago, is reached via a floating modernist staircase. Raffaele Lenzi’s inventive menus are pure, locavore rapture — leveraging intriguing flavour combinations and texture to allow the local ingredients to sing — and the service is as finely-tuned as the sommelier’s wine choices. Breakfast also elbows its way into this enchanting space, where it’s worth sitting beside the windows to tuck into scrambled eggs and viennoiserie while observing the water.
When not wallowing in the generously heated salt pool, or pootling off in a Riva yacht to visit Lake Como’s oldest villa (owned by the Il Sereno group), guests can check into the spa for therapies that match the hotel’s high design and lofty food standards — mine finished with divinely soft, chewy biscuits and a view of the lake, framed by the Medieval arches. Drizzly afternoons here can be spent leafing through the library’s coffee table books and lingering in its cosy, contemporary lounge space — where bartenders dispense tinkling negronis like medicine.
Book it: double rooms start from £695 per night. serenohotels.com
Villa Lario
The very embodiment of quiet luxury, Villa Lario lies on the sun-doused eastern shore in Pognana Lario, and has a private, homely disposition, as if you’re floating through your own high design lakeside villa. This is courtesy of its room count: there just 18 spacious suites divided between the main Villa Bianca building (where you’ll also find the restaurant) and, much further down the cliff, the tastefully renovated 19th century palazzo, previously owned by the blue-blooded Lombardi family.
There’s a sense that you have the two acres of terraced gardens, photogenic cliff top pool and terraces to yourself, without a bun fight for the orange deck chairs neatly lining up along the pocket-sized jetty. Described as a sleeping beauty, by its head of brand, Flore Pilzer, Lario’s crumbling original palazzo was happened upon by accident, back when her and her husband would chug a well-stocked little motor boat into the lake’s moonlit centre for a midnight swim. Their quest for romance feeds into all facets of the hotel, from the decision to mix emblems of Italianate antiquity with modern design, to the views from the restaurant and soft, shaded gardens.
Italians come here for a treat, with locally-raised and internationally-trained Davide Maci’s elevated classic Como dishes served at the restaurant, focusing (refreshingly for 5* hotels) on vegetables and gluten free options. Carnivores are still well catered to amid the garden tomato terrines and onion wellingtons (a depth of flavour not often associated with vegetables), and a more relaxed poolside menu rolls out for those after quick, moreish bites from their sunlounger.
The original palazzo’s grand bones have been fleshed out with glossy crittall, painted with soft pastel murals mimicking the originals, and dressed in angular, modern garbs. Floating through its sitting-room style bar – with low-slung sofas holding court beneath the sweeping ceilings – is akin to drifting through a film set, with the old balustrades and fire torches framing the evening lake in nostalgia. It’s all achingly elegant. Linger here for exquisite riffs on Italian street-food bites and classic Italian cocktails imaginatively pepped up with garden herbs.
Bag a suite in Il Palazzo with wistful views across the water (particularly at night when George Clooney’s cluster of villas wink ahead), or one of the rooms carved into the craggy, ivy-tangled caves right on the lake. The rhythmic slap of the water along the old palazzo’s craggy foundations is medicinal, if not a little dangerous during a pre-dinner snooze.
Book it: double rooms start at £375 per night. villalario.com
What to do
Rent a boat for the afternoon
Lake Como hotels will have an extensive menu of boat trips, and some like Il Sereno, offer guests boats to take out themselves (often without a boat licence). The Milanese tend to borrow friends’ boats, though if you’re short of a pal with a Como pad, then Como Classic boats guarantee a smart, Riva-style vessel to explore the lake with. If you’d rather have an expert lead the way, the company offers 2 - 6 hour classic tours, which are a great introduction to the lake (more to get your bearings than simply snooping at celebrity palazzos and grande dame terraces). comoclassicboats.com
Hike the mountain trails
Most associate Lake Como with excessive seafood lunches on terraces and cypress-framed villas overlooking the water. But for the Milanese, the hiking routes are just as appealing, if not more so, than cavorting about on the water. Routes such as the Palmenwald to the Cascata loop, and The Greenway del Lago di Como wind through ancient villages, via waterfalls and pixie-green forests. Routes are dotted with mountain huts (refugio), where traditional regional recipes survive the centuries, and Italian wines hit differently after a long traipse, and with those staggering sweeps of the lake and surrounding peaks. For a less demanding amble, take the ancient cobbled path that leads to Vezio Castle from the historic town of Varenna, via old monasteries and storybook chapels. mylakecomo.co
Shop the flea market and antiques
From Tuesday to Thursday morning, and all day Saturday, Como town’s city walls spring to life with the age-old Mercato Mercerie. They’re lined by stalls heaving with various treasures — resplendent door knobs probably pilfered from crumbling palazzos, exquisite silks (the region is famous for its silk-making), and just about every old trinket from Belle Epoque Italy imaginable. Come early and haul your treasures into one of the old town’s coffee shops (Bistro Muralto or Panino Buono). The brocante-inclined should also browse Talea’s artisanal wares and vintage trinkets, then linger for local craft workshops or hearty brunch (by reservation only). instagram.com
