The Surrounding Area

Overlooking Lake Como

Starting from Como and travelling along the western shore, the most popular one, you encounter Cernobbio, home to the monumental Villa d’Este, Villa Erba and Villa Pizzo, the latter built in the 16th century. Then come Laglio, a town famous for being the residence of actor George Clooney, Brienno and one of the most beautiful ancient villages, which remains practically untouched by tourism.

The lake’s only island is Comacina Island, an independent medieval stronghold that allied itself with the city of Milan during the ten-year war against Como (1118–1127). Today uninhabited, the island still preserves the 17th-century Church of San Giovanni, the only surviving church of the original nine, an inn with an adjoining restaurant, famous for having hosted film director Alfred Hitchcock, and several small Rationalist buildings designed by architect Pietro Lingeri.
The Lavedo Peninsula borders the Gulf of Venus and culminates in Villa del Balbianello, a property of FAI (the Italian National Trust), where scenes from films such as Piccolo mondo antico, Star Wars and Casino Royale from the James Bond series were filmed.

At the northern end of the lake, where the Mera and Adda rivers meet, lies the Pian di Spagna Nature Reserve, a vast flat area of great natural interest. A little further south is the picturesque village of Corenno Plinio, known for its sailing and windsurfing activities.
In the heart of Lake Como, Lierna is affectionately known as “the little pearl of Lake Como”, with its beautiful Riva Bianca beach, while in Varenna visitors can explore the eclectic Villa Monastero, home to both a botanical garden and a historic house museum.
From Varenna, a car ferry provides access to Bellagio, located at the tip of the promontory dividing the three branches of Lake Como. Bellagio is renowned for its magnificent historic villas, including Villa Melzi and Villa Serbelloni, home to the Rockefeller Foundation, as well as its picturesque stepped shopping street, overlooking the house where composer Franz Liszt once stayed and which was also visited by President Kennedy.

Heading south towards Como, in Nesso, visitors can admire the ancient houses clustered around the entrance to the Orrido, a deep and picturesque natural gorge formed where the Tuf and Nosè valleys meet, as well as the medieval Civera Bridge.
The mysterious Villa Pliniana in Torno is certainly worth a visit. Over the centuries, its magnificent rooms have welcomed illustrious guests such as Napoleon, Alessandro Manzoni, Ugo Foscolo, Stendhal, Lord Byron, Giuseppe Verdi, Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini.
Leonardo da Vinci studied the intermittent spring that emerges from a rock formation, now enclosed within the building’s inner courtyard. Antonio Fogazzaro set his novel Malombra here, and Mario Soldati later filmed the movie of the same name, based on the book, at this very location.

Lake Como also offers a regular ferry service, connecting the main towns along its shores. The service operates throughout the year and provides a wonderful way to discover the lake from a different perspective, admiring its historic villas and spectacular landscapes from the water.

Mount Resegone: A Mountain Waiting to Be Discovered

The proximity of Castello di Rossino to Mount Resegone, also known as Monte Serrada, makes it a perfect starting point for hiking enthusiasts and mountain lovers.

Also mentioned by Alessandro Manzoni in The Betrothed, Mount Resegone is described at the very beginning of the novel:
“The coastline, formed by the deposits of three large torrents, slopes down against two adjoining mountains, one called San Martino, the other, in the Lombard dialect, Resegone, from its many peaks arranged in a row, which truly make it resemble a saw. So distinctive is its shape that anyone seeing it for the first time, provided they are facing it, as for example from the north-facing walls of Milan, would immediately recognise it among that long and vast mountain range, distinguishing it from the other mountains of less familiar names and more ordinary shapes.”

Numerous hiking trails wind their way up from the Bergamo-area municipalities of Brumano, Fuipiano and Morterone, alongside popular ski mountaineering routes leading to the summit.

The Lecco side of the mountain, on the other hand, is characterised by numerous gullies well known among mountaineering enthusiasts, as well as several via ferrata climbing routes, with Erve, located above the village of Rossino, serving as a starting point.

The Vineyards of Upper Lake Como

Castello di Rossino is located in an area renowned not only for tourism, but also for its vineyards. Leaving the central part of Lake Como behind, visitors venture into the Upper Lake region and reach the lakeside town of Domaso, where an ambitious vineyard restoration project has made it possible to reintroduce an ancient local white grape variety, Verdesa, alongside other complementary varieties such as Sauvignon, Merlot, Croatina and Sangiovese.
Here, terraced vineyards benefit from the mild, breezy climate of Lake Como’s western shore, producing grapes of recognised quality. These give rise to Domasino Bianco IGT Terre Lariane, distinguished by its freshness and delicate floral aromas, and Domasino Rosso IGT Terre Lariane, characterised by its brilliant ruby-red colour and pleasant fragrance of red berries.

Further north, the Alpine region of Valtellina is renowned for its Nebbiolo grape variety, locally known as Chiavennasca, from which prestigious wines such as Valtellina Superiore DOCG are produced, including those from the Sassella, Grumello, Inferno and Valgella subzones.
Although these wines share very similar characteristics in their youth, as they age they develop a range of delicate nuances and fragrant bouquets, influenced by the geological characteristics of the soil and the exposure of the vineyards.

A particularly significant milestone was reached in 2009, when the entire Lake Como area, encompassing municipalities in the provinces of Como and Lecco, was granted the “IGT Terre Lariane” designation. This recognition was achieved through the joint efforts of local wineries committed to the promotion and protection of IGT Terre Lariane wines, which came together to establish the “Consorzio Vini I.G.T. Terre Lariane”.
The Consortium continues to carry out extensive research aimed at identifying and understanding the region’s winemaking heritage, including historical studies of areas where vines were cultivated in the past, as well as analyses of soils, grape varieties, microclimates, air and water. It also promotes a variety of initiatives designed to enhance and preserve viticulture within the IGT Terre Lariane territory.

The wine produced from the vineyards of Castello di Rossino also falls under the “IGT Terre Lariane” designation. The Castle’s agricultural estate is, in fact, a member of the Consortium and therefore actively participates in the programme aimed at promoting, preserving and enhancing the wine-growing heritage of the Lake Como region.

The Lombardy Region

Located close to Lombardy’s major cities, Castello di Rossino provides the perfect starting point for exploring the region’s treasures. Although often regarded primarily as an economic and industrial powerhouse, Lombardy boasts an artistic and cultural heritage of exceptional value and is home to the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy, including:

The Cenacolo Vinciano:

The most famous depiction of the Last Supper, a masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci and of the Italian Renaissance, dating from 1494 to 1498, is preserved in the former Renaissance refectory of the convent adjoining the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. In 2013, it was the twelfth most visited state-run cultural site in Italy, attracting over 400,000 visitors.

An interesting historical connection is worth highlighting: in 1482, shortly after arriving in Milan, Leonardo da Vinci was commissioned by Ludovico il Moro to study a system that would make navigation possible from Lake Como all the way to Milan. A solution to this challenge can be found in some of his drawings in the Codex Atlanticus, where it is possible to recognise the stretch of rapids along the Adda River near the Sanctuary of Madonna della Rocchetta. During his long stay in Milan, the Florentine genius frequently visited these places, finding inspiration here for the background of his masterpiece The Virgin of the Rocks.

Crespi d’Adda:

A hamlet of the municipality of Capriate San Gervasio, in the province of Bergamo, Crespi d’Adda is home to a workers’ village established in 1875 by Cristoforo Benigno Crespi for the cotton textile industry. In 1995, the “Workers’ Village of Crespi d’Adda” was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as one of the best-preserved examples of an industrial workers’ village in the world.

The Rock Carvings of Val Camonica:

Located in the province of Brescia, the rock carvings of Val Camonica form one of the largest collections of prehistoric petroglyphs in the world and were the first Italian site to be recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 1979. So far, more than 140,000 figures have been identified, but continuous new discoveries have progressively increased the total number of catalogued carvings to over 200,000.

The Sacred Mountain of the Rosary:

The Sacred Mountain of Varese is one of the nine Sacred Mountains of Piedmont and Lombardy, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003. It consists of fourteen chapels dedicated to the Mysteries of the Rosary, which lead to the Sanctuary of Santa Maria del Monte, a place of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages. The sanctuary itself serves as the fifteenth chapel and houses a neoclassical organ built in 1831 by Luigi Maroni Biroldi..

The Sacred Mountain of the Beata Vergine del Soccorso:

Located in Ossuccio, on the western shore of Lake Como, this religious complex stands on a steep hillside 400 metres above sea level, overlooking Comacina Island. Its fourteen chapels, all built between 1635 and 1710 in the Baroque style, lead to the sanctuary erected in 1532 at the summit, symbolically completing the crown of the Rosary. It is also one of the nine Sacred Mountains of Piedmont and Lombardy, inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2003.

Brescia and Castelseprio:

These sites are part of the serial UNESCO World Heritage Site “Longobards in Italy: Places of Power”, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2011. In Brescia, the designated sites include the Monastery of Santa Giulia with the Basilica of San Salvatore, and the archaeological area of the Roman Forum. In Castelseprio, in the province of Varese, the UNESCO designation encompasses the archaeological area of the castrum, including the Monastery of Torba, the Church of Santa Maria foris portas with its frescoes, and the ruins of the Basilica of San Giovanni Evangelista.

Mantova and Sabbioneta:

Since 2008, the two historic cities of Mantua and Sabbioneta, both united by the cultural and architectural legacy of the Gonzaga family, who transformed them into major centres of the Italian and European Renaissance, have been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.