What to see in Côme ?

Como owes its reputation less to the lake than to the tension between two rhythms: that of locals having lunch on the terrace along Via Vittorio Emanuele II and that of tourists rushing through town towards the ferry terminals. Built on a peninsula between two arms of Lake Como, the city preserves Roman architecture legible in its grid layout, with a cathedral, the Duomo di Como, that surprises with its interior restraint.

September and October offer slanting light on the water without summer's saturation. Two days suffice for the town itself; allow three if you take the ferry to Bellagio. From Milan, the regional train deposits you at Como San Giovanni in the town centre in forty minutes. Avoid the Brunate cable car on a Saturday in July: the queue often exceeds an hour for eight minutes of ascent.