Things to do in Como

Como sits at the southwestern tip of the lake, where the water narrows back into the Adda. The town predates the lake's fame by two millennia. Pliny the Elder was born here, and the old walls still hold a Roman-width grid.

Silk, not tourism, built most of what stands today. That history still shapes the town more than the water does.

The town itself

The Duomo took over three centuries to finish. It closed off only in 1770, with a dome by Filippo Juvarra. Behind it, the old centre is a tight grid of porticoed streets, small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes.

A funicular has climbed to Brunate since 1894. The ride takes seven minutes, through gardens and villas to a ridge above the town. From there the whole lake spreads out below, the Alps behind it on a clear day.

Silk and the water

• The silk district. Mulberry trees went in on ducal order in the 1400s; by the twentieth century Como was producing most of Italy's silk, and still turns out the bulk of it today.
• The lakefront. Boats to Bellagio and Varenna leave from here, the slow way into the central lake, two hours or so each way; the villages themselves belong to their own stretch of shore.
• Villa gardens. Several grand lakeside villas open their grounds to visitors who never need to board a boat at all.

Practical

• Weather. July runs near 29C and humid; January days sit around 6C. May, June and September bring fewer crowds on the boats.
• Getting here. Trains from Milan take under an hour to Como San Giovanni; the lakefront station, Como Nord Lago, sits closer to the boats.
• Boats. Slow ferries stop everywhere along the shore; the fast hydrofoil skips most stops for a higher fare.
• Dress. The Duomo and other churches expect covered shoulders, same as anywhere in Italy.