From Pliny the Younger to George and Amal Clooney, Lake Como has lured visitors with its scenery, architecture and climate for 2,000 years. But overtourism increasingly blights the delights of the best-known, southern parts of the lake. Hollywood-favourites such as Villa del Balbianello now limit the number of daily visitors. Bellagio, the pretty central town, is unpleasantly crowded in high season, with tourist exuberance leading to some mystifying attempts by the locals to maintain decorum, such as the “absolutely no dancing” sign I spot near the botanical gardens of Villa Melzi.
Rip-off habits erode Italian hospitality — this month’s scandal centres on a skinflint café that surcharged customers for dividing a toasted sandwich. For swimmers, public beaches are scarce and lidos crowded. The water quality is alarmingly patchy.
But just a few miles away to the north are towns and villages where unspoilt authenticity compensates for any lack of glamour. Top of my list is Gravedona ed Uniti, which has a particular advantage: the noisy main road runs round the back of the town, rather than — as all too often at Lake Como — along the shore. Gravedona’s half-mile lakeside promenade is almost traffic-free, with stellar views across the water to the Cistercian abbey of Santa Maria di Piona and the rolling mountain ranges to the north. Swimming from the pontoons is allowed, or from the tiny, pristine Mazzagallo beach a few minutes’ walk from the centre, in the shadow of the stately Palazzo Gallio, now an arts venue. A kingfisher nests in the creepers on the cliffside.
Unusually for Como, Gravedona is fine for the carless. Expedition possibilities abound. A 30-minute walk brings you to Dongo, where Mussolini and his mistress were captured and tried at the end of the war. You can still see the bullet holes left by the firing squad. A museum chronicles the resistance movement, though slightly sanitised (communist partisans ignored local pleas for the fascist dictator to receive a proper trial, and stole his gold for party funds). Hire an electric car there and visit the untouched medieval village of Corenno Plinio, with its church dedicated to Thomas à Becket, the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury. Across the lake (and accessible by bus from Gravedona) is its counterpart, Santa Maria Rezzonico, a tranquil former fishing village where steep alleys lead down to a vaulted harbour, in the shadow of a medieval castle.
Going northeast you reach Domaso, with its eateries and charming backstreets, and the magnificent 17th-century Venini palace. The scenic half-hour walk along the lake also features a still-legible inscription reading: “The fascist regime draws energy from the past and the present to leap into the future”. Local sympathisers prevented its removal.
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Much happier attractions are the dozens of local churches, which feature striking frescoes, inlaid stonework and wood carvings. A few minutes from the centre of Gravedona is Santa Maria delle Grazie, with an unusual depiction of the Virgin Mary wielding a hefty stick against a tiresome devil.
The adjacent cloisters — part of a convent seized after the war by the municipality — are usually locked, but if you catch the sacristan you may see the few visible frescoes. Art historians believe others may have survived below the plaster and whitewash.
Italy can be careless with its cultural treasures. Churches that in other countries would be keynote destinations are locked and neglected. In upper Como at least this is changing, thanks to Don Francesco Marinoni, a dynamic arch-priest who has launched an “Open Churches” initiative, with monthly Masses and weekend opening for sightseers. An hour’s drive uphill brings visitors to the church of Saint Eusebio with views over the lake, and dramatic frescoes including a particularly gory Last Judgment, with sinners devoured by a giant sea monster.
The wildfires and scorching heat that have devastated other holiday venues in southern Europe are distant in Como, though unusually heavy rains brought debris into the water, temporarily disrupting the hydrofoil service. The picturesque steamers, which ply most destinations on the lake, were unaffected.
The woods offer a maze of hiking routes through beech, walnut and chestnut. Some are well signposted, others, particularly the ancient mulattiere (mule tracks), less so or not at all. Navigating all this can be a challenge, and the lamentably vague local maps do not help. The German navigation app Komoot is far more useful. Spectacularly beautiful routes that in other places would be buzzing are all but deserted, though the ghosts of wartime resistance fighters, smuggling Jews and other fugitives to neutral Switzerland, may provide some company.
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The season runs from June to September. Hotels are even more sparse than the nightlife, but private lettings are abundant. Albino Gallo and his partner Alba run two flats in a Renaissance-era palace overlooking the lake. “We are beginning to host tourists who are keen on culture, not just waterskiing,” he says.
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Watersports enthusiasts will not miss out, though. In Domaso you can hire windsurf boards, paddleboats and a traditional wooden Lucia boat, named after one of the star-crossed lovers in Alessandro Manzoni’s novel I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed). Electric boats are available in Domaso for a day out on the lake.
Local olive oil, wine, goats cheese, charcuterie and honey make self-catering a joy, while the best restaurant in the region is the slow-food Aquila D’Oro (Golden Eagle), with an hour’s walk uphill to whet the appetite — or rent an ebike in Gravedona (mains from £15, osteriaaquiladoro.it). For lakeside relaxation in Gravedona, the Olmo (Elm) café is a fourth-generation family enterprise run by Natalia Pochintesta, with quirky decorations including an illuminated plastic goose and a collection of vintage motorcycles: just some of Gravedona’s many surprises.
Edward Lucas travelled independently. Fly to Milan Malpensa and take the train to Como San Giovanni, then a hydrofoil to Gravedona
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