Tag Archives: Lake Como
Lecco: Between Lake Como and the Alps
Want to see (and, in winter, ski) the Alps? Get off the train in Lecco and walk across the station parking lot to the bus stand in via Montello, where the #5 bus departs, roughly every hour, for the Funivia (you can buy bus tickets at the newsstands inside or outside the railway station, or on the bus itself, though that will cost more).
Take the #5 all the way up the hill to the end of the line at the Funivia (cable car). Take the cable car to Piani d’Erna:
…where you will find ski facilities, restaurants, hotels, bars, and an unbeatable view of this end of Lake Como (above).
Tourist Information for Lecco
Gallery: The Abbey at Piona
We’ve visited this beautiful medieval abbey in northern Lake Como several times, but apparently I’ve never posted any of my photos. This set is from a visit in September, 2007.
On in-season weekends, you can reach Piona on the Lake Como ferry.
Gallery: Santa Maria del Tiglio, Gravedona
While visiting friends on the other side of Lake Como, we stopped by the lakeside town of Gravedona and visited the cemetery and the medieval church of St. Maria del Tiglio (St. Mary of the Linden Tree).
As you can see, family vaults are kept over generations and centuries, and are well maintained. This is possible in a culture where families simply don’t move around much. When families have moved away from their roots, people will sometimes travel on November 1st (Ognissanti – All Saints’) to spruce up their family graves elsewhere in Italy. Religious organizations hang around the cemeteries that day to sell pre-printed tags that you can hang on your family vault to show you’ve been there (in case your dead ancestors didn’t notice?), and florists – who tend to cluster around cemeteries – do a booming business as well.
Gallery: Castello di Vezio
From a visit to the Castello di Vezio, see video of falconry high over Lake Como.
