The building now houses the Civic Archaeological Museum Paolo Giovio, is one of the most interesting palaces of the city of Como and retains part of the eighteenth-century interior. The palace, located in a square within the walled city and includes...

Villa and conference centre with an extensive English Garden. The construction of the villa, built perhaps on the remains of an ancient fortification dating back to the sixteenth century. The beautiful terraces of the park, with steps, balustrades...

Built for the Abbot Marco Gallio on the site of Paolo Giovio's sixteenth-century villa called "The Museum", it dates back to the beginning of the seventeenth century. It has a simple layout, with two loggias on the ground floor, one facing the lake...

The villa is now headquarters of Antonio Ratti foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the culture of textiles and contemporary art. It was built between 19th and the beginning of 20th century and belonged to different people. Among them...

Villa del Grumello is an historical mansion placed in a breathtaking setting: a wonderful park overlooking the lake. The villa’s interior can only be experienced for special functions and events but its majestic exterior can be viewed by the public...

Built in 1790 and renovated in 1850 in neoclassical form, Villa Geno is located alongside the famous Como fountain, featuring a jet of water 30 meters high. It is set in a unique natural complex consisting of the Lake and the promontory as a...

Private villa viewable only from outside or the lake. Owned by Count Mario Allamel, a very affable host who frequently invited with Cernobbio’s citizens to literary events and music in the beautiful garden and gazebo. It is located on a lakefront...

Available for private rental with chef and all modern amenities. Also known as Villa Taglioni, after the original owner, ballerina Marie Taglioni who in lived in the feudal home for forty years. The property later went to Michele Riccardi, owner of...

The Villa Erker Hocevar is surrounded by a large garden, overlooking the road along the lake, which is directly connected by a passageway. Built between 1829 and 1830, the villa's fame is tied to a long stay of Vincenzo Bellini, famed opera...

Built around 1850 by Russian Prince Troubetzkoy, married to one of the daughters of famous Ballerina Marta Taglioni. The Prince came to the area after having served six months heavy labour in a Siberia for plotting against Czar Nicholas I. He...

Located in a panoramic position between the inlet of Loppia and the hamlet of San Giovanni, Villa Taverna was built by Count Paolo Taverna at the end of the eighteenth century. The villa is a private residence and can only be seen from the lake. The...

It is one of the most famous villas of the lake, set apart and sad, with a mysterious and disquieting aspect. It seems that upon the building heap an inscrutable aura, quite as the ghosts that disturbed its first owner, the count Giovanni Anguissola...

Following a stay in Lake Como, George Clooney was fascinated by the area and bought a house in Laglio, a villa of the eighteenth century called Villa Oleandra. He later became an honorary citizen of the small lakeside town and sits on the committee...

Located next to Villa d’Este, this villa is in the private hands of the Volpi-Bassani family. The gardens can be visited during the week by groups of ten or more. Villa Pizzo Cernobbio: Giovanni Muggiasca purchased the farmland on the Pizzo...

Villa Bernasconi is one of the most precious examples of art nouveau in Italy. It is owned by the town of Cernobbio and is now a cultural center hosting exhibitions and events. It was built before 1905 in Cernobbio, not directly on the lake but not...

Villa Saporiti or "La Rotonda" in Como owes its name to the elliptical hall that protrudes towards the lake. Villa Saporiti was built at the end of the eighteenth century for the marquis Villani of Milani on a design by Leopoldo Pollack. The...

Villa Erba is a 19th-century villa in Cernobbio, on the shores of Lake Como, Italy. It serves as a world-renown conference centre and was the filming location for Ocean’s Twelve in 2004 and Gwen Stefani's single "Cool". Villa Erba was built by Luigi...

Villa Fontanelle is near Moltrasio on the Lake Como, Lombardy, Italy, about 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Milan. Presently owned by Russian billionaire Arkady Novikov, this villa was once home to Gianni Versace who lived there until his murder in 1997....

Stately neoclassical building dating back to the end of 1700. It has an Italian garden at the front and an English park at the back with secular trees and woody plants. The villa belongs to the City Council which uses it for conventions, events and...

Designed by architect Cesare Cattaneo and painter Mario Radice in 1935. It is a complex construction of circular elements whose harmonious composition consists of four spheres arranged on each other with alternate horizontal rings. Originally...

A series of modern frescoes (2007) painted on houses in the town of Taceno that endeavour to preserve traditions, legends and history of craftsmanship and commercial work. Unlike their counterparts in Parlasco that recount the legend of Lasco the...

Three tombs belonging to the aristocratic Andreani Family located outside the Church of St Thomas of Beckett and a castle belonging to the same family. The monuments, know as “arks” are important evidence of Lombardy sculpture that were erected...

Geological formations resembling mushrooms created when water running off the slopes was diverted by large boulders. The boulders imposing size and weight protected the underlying material from erosion and gave rise to the characteristic shape of a...

It’s a boulder of pyramidal shape that owes its curious name to a crescent engraved on one side, of natural origin, accompanied by the letters PLDB (Moon Stone of Bellagio) and the date 1782, which commemorates the end of a period of dispute between...

Monument to the fallen of World War I, designed in 1926 by architect Giuseppe Terragni and built between 1928 and 1931. It consists of a long stone staircase and river pebbles surrounded by cypress trees. The staircase consists of four flights and...

The burial town where Alessandro Volta is buried was originally called Camnago, and took the name of Camnago Volta in 1863 in honour of this great scientist. The mausoleum, a temple of neoclassic style, was finished in 1831, decorated with statues...

Parlasco is one of the smallest Italian towns located in the Regional Park of the Northern Grigna in Valsassina. It is on the main road connecting Lake Lecco to Valsassina and joins Alpe Cainallo with Cortenova. Myth and reality are perfectly mixed...

Immediately after the death of Alessandro Manzoni on May 22, 1873, the City Council of Lecco met and approved a monument to the writer that had given so much prestige to the city. The committee, headed by Antonio Stoppani, collected donations for...

Located in a churchyard, this statue represents a man in the act of throwing a large stone. The monument reminds locals of a battle in Libya in which alpinists of Brienno fought. The battalion Morbegno, all composed of soldiers from the lake area,...

Monument dedicated to the weaver of Francesco Somaini, where on the banks of the river Senagra, had one of its oldest and most prestigious silk factories. In the marble top is a negative image of a weaver, while below is fabric draping to the ground....

Here, a black cross marks the spot where Benito Mussolini was shot and killed (along with his lover Claretta Petacci) by partisans, marking the last stand of the Fascist dictator's rule over Italy. Actually, he wasn't really the ruler of Italy at...