Alternatives to Lake Como: the romantic, peaceful lakes of Northern Italy

If you're looking for an alternative to Lake Como, the problem isn't a shortage of water: Northern Italy has plenty of it. The problem is the crowds that, from May to September, clog Bellagio, Varenna and the ferries of the central lake. The good news is that barely an hour away lie stretches of water just as scenic, where a rowboat at sunset isn't a postcard cliché but something you can actually do. Here are the lakes across Piedmont and Lombardy worth choosing for a romantic, peaceful weekend, and what to see nearby while you're there.

Lake Orta

**Lake Orta, the most intimate.** It's the first alternative anyone who knows the lakes will suggest, and for good reason. Orta San Giulio, one of Italy's most beautiful villages, has cobbled lanes and a square facing the water, from which boats set off for the Isola di San Giulio, dominated by a basilica begun in the 5th century. The lake is small, swimmable and award-winning for its water quality: no roaring ferries, no overcrowded lakefront. From here it's half an hour to the Valsesia, where the water turns alpine: the Tailly Lakes in the Val d'Otro and the three-lakes loop at the Gole del Lavì at the foot of Monte Rosa are short walks that give back a great deal. And in Alagna it's worth pausing among the wooden Walser houses of Pedemonte, a hamlet of stables and cabins built centuries ago by German-speaking settlers.

Lake Maggiore

**Lake Maggiore, but the right side.** It's large and partly touristy, yet it keeps its quiet corners. The most surprising is the hermitage of Santa Caterina del Sasso in Leggiuno, a monastery clinging to a sheer rock face above the water, reachable by boat or down a long staircase: get there early in the morning. On the Piedmont shore, before heading up to the lakes, it's worth pointing inland: the fortress-village of the Ricetto di Candelo, near Biella, is a maze of medieval lanes where farmers once stored their wine, perfect for half a day. Not far from Maggiore there's also the tiny Lake Mergozzo, among the cleanest in Europe, where motorboats are banned: ideal for those truly after silence.

**Lake Lugano and the Varese area.** On the Italian branch of the Ceresio, at Riva San Vitale, the 5th-century Baptistery still survives, one of the oldest Christian monuments still standing in the whole region: it takes only minutes to visit and sits a stone's throw from the border. On the Lombard side, among the hills that separate Varese from Maggiore, hides Castelseprio, an archaeological park with a little church holding a cycle of Byzantine frescoes whose dating is still debated. These are places to pair with a base on the Varese lakes, more out of the way and just right for a day trip out of Milan.

Lake Lecco

**Lake Lecco and Brianza.** The Lecco branch of the Lario is already quieter than the Como one. From Civate, above the little Brianza lakes, begins the climb to the Romanesque abbey of San Pietro al Monte: an hour and a half of trail to reach an 11th-century church overlooking the plain. It's the perfect antidote to the traffic of Bellagio: here you sweat a little, but you're almost alone.

Lake Iseo

**Lake Iseo and Franciacorta.** Among the great Lombard lakes it's the most authentic. At its centre floats Monte Isola, the largest inhabited lake island in Europe, reachable in a ten-minute ferry from Sulzano and explorable on foot or by bike. Heading up the Valcamonica you reach the park of Naquane at Capo di Ponte, thousands of rock carvings chiselled by the Camunni: Italy's first UNESCO-recognised site, and almost always empty.

**For those setting out from Turin.** If your starting point is western Piedmont, two detours are worth the trip even without a lake in front of you: the Sacra di San Michele above the Val di Susa, the abbey that is the region's emblem, perched on a rocky spur, and the parish church of San Pietro at Acqui Terme, with its octagonal bell tower in the heart of the Monferrato.

The thread linking all these stops is simple: choose the right stretch of water and then move a little inland, where the numbers collapse. An alternative to Lake Como, in the end, isn't a single lake: it's a different way of being there.

Practical guides for Como

• Where to stay in Como
• What to see in Como in 2 days
• Where to eat in Como
• How to get to Como