STOCK PHOTOGRAPHS of LAKE COMO

LAKE COMO - BLESSED BY HEAVEN

Standing on the shoreline of Lake Como as the dusk sky illuminates the still waters and a faint mist rolls ... Lake Como is the most beautiful place in Italy...the Italian Lakes, and Lombardy's Lago di Como in particular, have been highly regarded since Roman times and this area is full of cultural associations as well as being the haunt of visiting aristocrats. Wordworth waxed lyrical about this "treasure" and it is still little changed from its heyday in the nineteenth century when it was an extremely fashionable destination. The moderate climate that allows vines, olives and lemons to flourish ...Milan, Bergamo and a number of other cities has proved an irresistible cocktail of all that's good about Italy to many visitors. A fifty kilometre long inverted "Y" shape reaches close to the Swiss border at its northern end and at the south-western leg lies Como, the elegant city that gave its name to the lake. At the end of the south-eastern leg sits the busy commercial centre of Lecco. The Lake gets more peaceful as you head north from here and at the middle of the upturned "Y" sit Bellagio, Menaggio and Varenna occupying three equally beautiful shores of the lake.

From Como you can explore the lake by taking one of the relatively fast boats that travels the full length, stopping off at some of the most popular places to visit. The other southern lakeside city, Lecco, is a busy and industrialised place associated with one thing in particular in the minds of most Italians. This was the setting of "I Promessi Sposi", or, "The Betrothed", probably the most famous of all Italian novels and written in the early nineteenth century by Lecco's most famous son, Alessandro Manzoni. A monument to him presides over the northern approach to the town and the Villa Manzoni on Via Amendola is now a museum dedicated to the author with his study furnished just as he had left it. Otherwise this is not the sort of town most would visit on holiday except to take advantage of its good transport links. Apart from good bus and train services, there is a cable car to the Piani d'Erna from where you can hike off into the mountains.

To savour the charms of the central Lake Como area you just have to visit genteel Bellagio (another town dubbed the most beautiful in all of Italy) which has long been a magnet for writers, composers and artists and it is not hard to imagine why. Franz Liszt described Bellagio "I know of no other spot more obviously blessed by heaven". ... Tremezzo from where you can detour to Menaggio before taking the car ferry to Varenna on the opposite side of the lake. Menaggio is a popular holiday destination with a pleasant beach and a good place to base yourself if you want to hike in the mountains. ... Varenna offers wonderful views of the lake and its encircling mountains. Personally, this is my favourite part of the lake: less busy or commercial than Como and less touristy than Bellagio... ringed by beautiful cypress and pine trees with beautiful houses in varying shades of red stacked close to the shore line. Many visit it mainly to visit the sixteenth century Villa Cipressi and especially the gardens of the former Cistercian convent Villa MonasteroThere are plenty of smaller towns and villas in the Como area to discover for yourself. It is hard to imagine a more laid back holiday in Italy than to cruise between these pleasant towns on one of the lazy antiquated steamers that only do more to emphasise the fin de siecle atmosphere that the Lake is imbued with for much of the year.

© John Heseltine