We had been thinking that perhaps we hadn't really given Bellagio enough of a chance by just going there for a few hours one morning while tourist season was still in full swing at the beginning of September. Now that we are in the last week of September, we wanted to head over there in the late afternoon and evening to see if the town was still packed with crowds even at dinnertime. Maybe the narrow laneways were more charming at twilight with fewer people? So we took the ferry over, and while we were at it, we booked a late afternoon tour of the Villa Serbelloni gardens. We gathered with about two dozen others at the town square to meet our guide Paola. She unlocked the gate and led us onto the garden path that winds high up the hill that overlooks the town of Bellagio. From up here it really is beautiful.
The Villa Serbelloni is privately owned by the Rockefeller Foundation, but the park surrounding the villa is open for two city-run tours daily. Paola was an excellent tour guide who gave us the history of the home, informing us that it ended up in the hands of the Serbelloni family who eventually sold the prestigious villa in 1870 to a Swiss family who also owned what used to be called "The Grand Hotel Bellagio" right on the waterfront. The hotel owners liked the cachet of the name "Villa Serbelloni" and now that they owned both the villa and the hotel, they renamed the hotel the "Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni". But then they later sold the original villa to an American heiress, who in turn donated it to the Rockefeller foundation in the 1950s. But the hotel owners were allowed to keep the name. This generates a lot of confusion, since there is now a "Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni" which is not actually (and never was) a villa, and the actual Villa Serbelloni. Many people book hotel rooms thinking that they are going to be staying at a villa but they end up at a very luxurious hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant instead.
With all the confusion cleared up, our guide led us higher and higher until we reached what was the old ruin of a castle on the promontory. During the Middle Ages, there was a fortified wall that protected Bellagio and led up here to several watchtowers. The towers were eventually destroyed in the late 1300s after the ten-year war between Como city and Milan.
The best part of climbing up to the top of the hill was the ability to see both legs of the lake at the same time. When we looked to the south we could see the Lecco leg on the left, and on the right we could see the branch leading down to the city of Como. The land in between is the peninsula where Bellagio is located.
After the tour it was almost 6pm and nearly dinnertime. We had hoped the crowds would be gone but we were disappointed. There were still throngs of people everywhere so we got in the long line for the ferry and called it a day. We gave Bellagio a chance but I can't imagine staying there on vacation and fighting the crowds day in and day out to get a table for lunch or dinner. We are definitely happy we found such a charming "home away from home" in the quieter and equally scenic Menaggio.
On Thursday we decided to get some exercise here on the Menaggio side of the lake. There is a huge park up in the hills called the Parco Val Sanagra that has lots of good hiking trails. So we walked up the hill through Loveno to get to the park and headed to the Belvedere viewpoint. The valley here is cut in two by the Sanagra river (sometimes spelled "Senagra" -- I've seen it both ways, not sure which the locals prefer). Across the divide you can see the small hamlet of Cardano.
We took a pathway down to the river level that led to this beautiful old stone bridge that was once the only way to get between the hamlets of Loveno on one side of the river and Cardano on the other side.
A little further downstream the river picked up speed and broke into several cataracts as it cascaded down the riverbed.
But we hadn't seen anything yet! We followed the path towards the Orrido and were in awe of the enormous gorge that opened up below us. It was hard to believe that this beautiful work of nature had hardly any visitors (we only saw a handful of other couple on the metal walkways). But then again it was a lot easier to get to the other Orrido which is literally right in the middle of Bellano town.
The Sanagra Orrido takes a little more work to find than the Orrido di Bellano but it was definitely worth the effort!
When we first arrived in Lake Como, we had a list of the things we wanted to do while we were here. Many of those items needed good weather, so we've been slowly ticking all of those things off the list. However, there was one thing that was not only weather-dependent but tourist crowd-dependent: we wanted to ride the funicular in Como city up to the hamlet of Brunate. When we first arrived in town, Como city was packed with tourists and there were long waits of 30 minutes or more just to board the seven-minute journey to the top of the hill. So we skipped it when we first arrived and then this week we took a bus down to the city to check it out. Woo-hoo, no lines!
This funicular has been running since 1894, although I imagine back in those days the cars were probably not bright purple. The track has a 55% grade and rises steeply over the rooftops and trees of Como city.
At the top of the hill we were rewarded with panoramic views of the city below. The immense size of the Como Cathedral's domed roof was impressive.
After taking in the view, we headed back down into town. While we were there we also did a short walk along a part of the lake we missed the first time around. We saw this beautiful monument to Alessandro Volta, the hometown hero who invented the electric battery.
And we saw a quirky statue in a pretty park that was begging for a photo op. Rather than take the bus back, we took the noontime slow ferry intending to enjoy a leisurely boat ride back up the lake. We had hoped that by this time the tourist crowds would have dissipated, but we were mistaken. The ferry Orione has 472 seats and capacity for 700 total people, and still it was packed with almost no empty seats. By the time we boarded, the only seats left were inside at the middle tables (window seats all taken). We made the best of the situation since this ferry is one of the few ferries that sells drinks and snacks. So we cheerfully sipped beer and prosecco and enjoyed the views as best we could. The ferry just got more and more crowded as we progressed up the lake, stopping in at other towns. Ironically, where do you think all those tourists disembarked? Why, Bellagio, of course!
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