Bellagio is probably the most famous town on Lake Como, after all there is a fancy hotel in Las Vegas named after it. It was a major holiday destination even in Roman times; it is believed that Pliny the Younger had a vacation villa or two here in the 1st century AD. But the big crowds really began coming here in the 1800s, when the wealthy aristocrats of Europe began visiting the Italian Lakes as part of the European Grand Tour. Fashionable hotels were built, as well as many of the private villas.
But nowadays, I think maybe Bellagio is a victim of its own popularity. The town is still stately and elegant, but tourist crowds throng the narrow alleyways, restaurants, cafes and shops. I mean, there are tourists in every village on the lake, it's to be expected, but in other towns it still feels like actual Italian people live there most of the time. Bellagio feels maybe a bit more tourist-centric, especially right in the center of the historic old town. This is a photo we took of the Serbelloni steps (Salita Serbelloni) -- and at first glance it doesn't look too overcrowded....
...until you see a photo of the people elbowing each other out of the way to take the perfect photo looking down the famous steps. Meanwhile, I'm just trying to finish my takeout lunch amid the chaos. Weirdly, the benches seem to face the wrong way -- you'd think they'd face the view looking down over the steps. Our photo above doesn't do the Salita Serbelloni justice, but in other images online you can see why the location is so popular -- it's really picturesque with the iron lamps, shops, and flowering plants. But our walking guidemap noted that locals have nicknamed this spot "the ditch" because in medieval times it actually was a ditch.
The church square, Piazza San Giacomo ("St. James Square"), is the center of the upper part of town. It's lined with shops and pubs, and on the far side of the square is a medieval defense tower next to the park-like garden of the Villa Serbelloni. The garden is open to the public if you reserve a guided tour, but the villa itself is not open for visitors (it's owned by the Rockefeller Foundation).
On the other side of the square is the Basilica di San Giacomo, built between the years 1075 and 1125. It has been restored many times over the ensuing centuries, and is now an Italian national monument.
We kept walking down through the town and into the pretty municipal park, past the interesting gothic Anglican church that was converted into private apartments in the 1950s. Imagine living there! I got curious so I looked it up online and saw a (possibly outdated) listing with photos of the interior and a list price of 1.9 million Euros. I guess that's the price you pay to live in the elegant town of Bellagio.
Just a little way down the lakeshore is the Villa Melzi. This historic villa was built in 1813 for Francesco Melzi D'Eril who was Vice President of the Italian Republic under Napoleon (a position Melzi held until Napoleon decided "to heck with the republic -- I don't wanna just be President, I am now King of Italy". Such an ego!). The villa itself is a private residence, still held by descendents of the Melzi D'Eril/Gallerati Scotti family. While you can't tour the house, the gardens are very pretty and include a beautiful Moorish pavillion with sculptures and views of the lake.
There's also a small museum that highlights the family history and has several really well-preserved Renaissance frescoes on display.
The English-style garden has some really spectacular plants and trees. Visiting in the autumn means that we missed the springtime blooms but instead we get to see the fall colors on the trees.
From the southern edge of the gardens you can see the neighbor's house, Villa Gerli. We've noticed that for many of these villas there's not a lot of privacy from the neighbors and the looky-loos touring the lake by boat. I guess if you're wealthy and really want privacy you don't buy a big ol' villa right on Lake Como.
Since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to do an additional 2-hour self-guided walking tour called "The Hamlets of the Lakeside of Bellagio". This was definitely more off the beaten path and we found ourselves miles away from the tourist crowds.
The small fishing village of Loppia has a postage stamp-sized harbor where we saw a beautiful example of a larian gondola (also called a Lucia). This traditional wooden workboat was used for fishing or to transport goods up and down the lake and could be powered by oar or sail.
We were about halfway through the walk when we arrived at the fishing hamlet of San Giovanni. We sat down just in front of the church (Chiesa de San Giovanni) to consult the map and see where to go next. There were no other people in sight except a lively group of Italians having drinks and a picnic by the small port. They had a stereo going and I had to smile to myself when I heard Chubby Checker singing the chorus of "Let's Twist". One of the ladies saw me smile and danced her way over to us -- before I knew it we were invited to the dance party. She asked where we were from and wanted to know what state. "Arizona!" she shouted to the others, "Applauso!" and everybody clapped. I asked her name ("Antonella") and we introduced ourselves to the group. They looked like they'd been there a while -- they had a picnic all set up with a portable bar of drinks and aperitivos. One gentleman handed Kevin a glass of prosecco and we danced with them for a while in the sunshine before we headed off to continue our walk. I still don't know what they were celebrating at 11 am on a Thursday but whatever it was we were happy to be a part of it.
The rest of our walk was uneventful in comparison, but it was good exercise as it took us all the way over and up the other side of the Bellagio peninsula before bringing us back into town. Having seen a little bit of the surrounding area, I can say that Bellagio still has a lot of charm if you can get away from the crowds.
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