Bellagio is certainly one of the most beautiful and fascinating
towns of the Lago di Como. Its special location dates back to
the last Ice Age when the Bellagio promontory (Punta Spartivento),
owing to its compact geologic composition, forced the glacier to
split, creating the two deep valleys east and west, which would then
have become famous as Alessandro Manzoni's "branches of the Lake
Como".
Precisely for this particular history Bellagio guarantees one of
the most impressive panoramic views of Italy: particularly
from the park of Villa Serbelloni and the top of Mount San
Primo, you can see the Alps, from the Monte Bianco to the Ortles and
the Madonnina of the Duomo
di Milano.
The lake promenade is enlivened, as well as by luxurious
hotels, by elegant shops that express the best in made in Italy:
jewels, clothing, but especially the precious
silks that are the pride of the Como industry. Crossing north to
south through the town you cannot remain unimpressed by the beauty of
the old town with its narrow lanes, which come out onto the
side of the lake, in an extraordinary square and on the piers for
boats, hydrofoils and ferries.
Among Bellagio's architectonic beauties we can point out in
particular: villa Serbelloni, villa Melzi and the Basilisk of San
Giacomo. Finally, the pleasure for gourmets is ensured by
delicious gastronomic specialties which you can only taste in the
area's restaurants: we are speaking of the Como recipes for cooking
lake fish (allis shads, trouts and the "misultitt"),
polenta "tocc" and "oncia" and, for desserts,
"mataloc".
August.2002
The
Lake of Como
Tourism
in the province of Como (In Italian)
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