Three Summers: Lagi di Como

It's 13 years since we visited Lake Como and I was more than excited to be returning to this most beautiful and romantic part of Italy. In 2011 we rented La Casa del Vecchia Prete, The Old Priest's House, in the tiny pedestrian village of Careno. This visit we've rented an apartment in Bellagio at the gates of the glorious Giardini de Villa Melzi. The location was stunning, right on the shores of the lake, with private car parking (so rare in Bellagio), and a lake view from the terrace. An added bonus of its location is the stunning walk through the gardens each day to arrive in Bellagio, and again on the way home.

Just a 90 minute drive from Bergamo to Bellagio, our trip was delayed in the final stage as we came to a road closure on the shores of Lake Como. Earlier that morning there had been one of Como's legendary summer storms and for reasons that the local carabinieri didn't tell us, the road into Bellagio was closed. "No problema" said the finely attired carabinieri, "go via Erba, then Valbrona". So we re-set the gps and off we went. Until we got to Valbrona and another road closure! We stopped in the driveway of an Italian villa where a young man was ushering what looked to be his grandparents out of the driveway. He advised us to 'go via Civenna'. His advice was correct, and in another 30mins we arrived in Bellagio. The benefit of driving these high roads behind Bellagio meant we saw the magnificent views of Lake Como from a-high. So, our advice if you're driving around Lake Como is to detour off the road that follows the shores of the Lake and head high into the mountains behind Bellagio, it's utterly spectacular!

We settled into our apartment, and in the next day's sparkling sunshine we zig-zagged across the Lake on the Navigazione Laghi ferries visiting Verenna, Menaggio, Villa Carlotta and Tremezzina. Buy a day ticket early in the morning and there's no need to queue throughout the day at ticket boxes at each quay - just jump on and jump off. We got lost in Bellagio's beautiful alley ways

We ate at the beautiful Alla Darsene di Loppia, right next to our apartment, and would have loved to return another night however they were booked out all over that weekend. No problema! A picnic is always a good idea in Italy. Even the smallest supermarket has an impressive and enticing deli, together with the latteria, cheese specialty shops, and Bellagio Frutta, it was an easy and pleasant task to put together an evening picnic on our balcony. While we ate our picnic we listened to the sounds of the outdoor concert of opera voices and classical music being held next door in the courtyard of Villa Melzi d'Eril.

Oh Como, you are beautiful!