Lombardia – a day off in Como

Como is beautiful, but it’s very busy, certainly compared to when I was first here in 2002. The locals blame George Clooney for buying a villa here but the truth is, it’s just one of those places, like Venice or Barcelona, that are just too lovely for their own good.

With my day off falling on a Sunday I was faced with the choice of joining the hordes of day trippers from Milan on a pleasure cruise around the lake, or climbing one of the nearby hills to get away from them. Needing a bit of exercise, I chose the latter, and climbed up Monte Boletto, the hill to the right of Como town, as you’re looking at the lake.

I say climbed, but for the first part of the very steep ascent, I went for the sensible option of taking the funicular from this lovely station in Como town.

The queue was quite short at around 10am, so I only had to wait a few minutes to get on.

The mountain railway takes you up to Brunate, a small village with such great views that it has earned the nickname “Balcony of the Alps”.

The architecture up here is lovely, featuring several eclectic and Stile Liberty villas with, to my mind, Jugenstile (painted wall decoration) and Alpine (pitched rooves) influences.

This is Albergo Bellavista (built in 1896). You can stay there or go for lunch.

I quite liked Villa Marinoni (built approx 1919).

And also right next door, which I think is called Villa Orlandi (no info).

From the funicular station it was about a 30-minute hike up a steep gradient to the next viewpoint. It was off-road and cobbled nearly the whole way.

Eventually you arrive at the Faro Voltiano, an octagonal ‘lighthouse’ (viewing gallery) named after Alessandro Volta (the inventor of the battery) who lived in Brunate for a while. It was built in 1927 to commemorate the centenary of his death.

It was closed when I went, but you can still get great views of the lake and the western Alps from the balcony terrace in front of it.

From other south facing belvederes around Brunate you can also see the Po Valley and the northern Apennines.

You could actually continue hiking for several hours, going up neighbouring Monte Boletone, but having had a decent workout on the way up, I decided to go for my pre-booked lunch at La Polenteria www.lapolenteria.it, a large, pleasant trattoria, just a short walk downhill from the lighthouse.

There’s lots of outdoor seating but I fancied the more secluded interior to get out of the bright midday sun.

As the name suggests, the main offering is polenta, in many forms, but instead I wanted to try the Pizzoccheri, a quintessential buckwheat pasta in local Valtellinese cuisine. I had the classic preparation of Pizzoccheri della Valtellina made, in my case, with Savoy cabbage (could be Swiss chard), cubed potatoes, Valtellina Casera cheese and ground Grana Padano or Parmesan and dressed with garlic lightly fried in butter. There was a big bay leaf in mine as well. As well as grated Parmesan, the waiter also gave me a small bowl of ‘mixed spices’ (mainly pepper and some unknowns) with the warning they should be sprinkled sparingly. It was delicious, with spice or without, and felt like the perfect thing to eat after a walk up a mountain.

On the way back down, I took the more circuitous route following the road and got a couple more semi-obscured views on the way back down, but nothing better than I’d seen on the path.

For the return journey on the funicular, I was first in the queue so I managed to snag the front window seat and take a couple of videos of the descent.

It was a good job I started fairly early as the short queue I’d stood in previously was several times longer!

You can find everywhere mentioned on my Google map.

Some bits of architecture around Como town next…