Day Trips from Lecco

Day Trips from Lecco, Italy May 17, 2000

Forget the distractingly beautiful scenery; it just gets in the way. As we keep our eyes sharply focused on the long, shoulderless road, it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near wide enough to handle the rushing, two-way traffic. On one side, the rocky outcroppings of the vertical mountain face impinge. On the other, the terrain drops steeply down to the lake. The narrow, mostly-flat road winds incredibly, one curve following another, as if a wandering fly had set the path. The zooming Italian drivers are crazy, unwilling to have a car in front of them, passing recklessly even in no passing zones. And scores of bicyclists are out doing their Sunday 50K rides dressed in tight, colorful gear. Then there are the motorcyclists, whisking past and angling their bikes, seemingly touching the ground as they take the turns. (One oncoming motorcyclist actually hit our car’s mirror!) And making this a true "level-4" driving experience, a 10K fun-run is being held along this very road. Amazing!!! By the time we drove the 20K from Lecco to Bellagio, we’ve already had our adventure for the day.

We had settled into our modern, relatively-inexpensive, luxury hotel in Lecco near Lake Como. Guidebooks and brochures suggested a dozen possible destinations, aside from sights in Lecco itself. For example, it’s a 45-minute train trip to Milan. The local ferry service goes up the lake, stopping at scores of interesting small towns. There’s a motor trip up into a lush, green alpine valley and day trips along the east side of the lake. The Italian pre-Alps, the Austrian Alps and the Swiss Alps, are all about 50-80 miles north. And there’s the 20K drive described above along one edge of Lake Lecco / Como.

With only four days here, we decided to forego the Alps and Milan. We didn’t even manage to take a ferry ride. But we did do some great (and scary) drives. The scenery here is spectacular. It’s on such a grand scale that my photos couldn’t capture it. You'll just have to go!

Two of the most beautiful places on Lago de Como are the ancient towns of Bellagio and Varenna. The old, picturesque town of Bellagio presumably provided the name for the Las Vegas hotel. It's the most famous spot on the lake, so there were plenty of tourists (including Americans, of which we found few elsewhere.) But even in this touristy spot, Italy is uniquely Italy. There is distinctness and subtlety in the pace of life, the quietude, the natural beauty . Varenna, across the lake, is more sedate and is known for its grotto or orrido, full of rushing waters. Both towns have narrow streets that you traverse at great personal risk, and stone-stepped alleyways leading down a hundred feet or so to the water. In either town you can walk along the waterfront, or visit a castle, churches or villa gardens. That is, when you’re not looking into the souvenir shops or eating a meal, or drinking espresso, or indulging in a gelato treat at one of the inviting patio restaurants.

The Hotel Villa Serbelloni, a famous, old, 5-star hotel, sits on the water’s edge in Bellagio. Above it, high up the hillside, stands the much older Villa Serbelloni and its extensive gardens. The Rockefeller Foundation (NY) now owns the old villa and offers one-month fellowships to study and do research here. I’m working on Dick to come up with a research proposal and apply for a fellowship. A month in Bellagio would be heavenly. And we wouldn’t even have to do that adventuresome drive from Lecco; instead we’d just plan to take a nice, slow, leisurely cruise up the Lake on the ferry.

Home