Lake Como
Author: VeronicaLake Como, the third largest Italian lake after Garda and Verbano, is a basin of glacial origin, with an area of 4570 square km. It is located 199 meters above sea level, the average depth is 153 meters and the replacement of water is of 4.5 years. It is famous for its form, a “Y” on reverse, and it is one of the most beautiful landscapes in Italy, praised in the XIX century by major poets of Romanticism, as Alessandro Manzoni, Stendhal, George Gordon Byron and Franz Liszt.
Alessandro Manzoni wrote in the first paragraph of his masterpiece “I promessi Sposi“:
One arm of Lake Como turns off to the south between two unbroken chains of mountains, which cut it up into a series of bays and inlets as the hills advance into the water and retreat again, until it quite suddenly grows much narrower and takes on the apearance and the motion of a river between a headland on one side and a wide stretch of shore on the other.
Lake Como
Lake Como is, or at least it was a time, a huge fishing reserve for the adjacent watercourses, as the reproductive needs push several species of fish, during regular migrations, from the lake to rivers in search of fresh waters, gritty and clean funds. Among the species that make these trips there are mainly the Salmonids such as trout, char, and grayling, which from Lake Como back in droves to the Adda and Mera. Other fishes present in the waters of the basin are: carps, tenches, eels. But the most threatened species, especially by sportif fishermen, are: real perch, chub, pike and trout. These fishes are caught, according to the characteristics of each species, with natural or artificial baits.
The climate generally mild and humid promotes the growth of a rich vegetation. The flora is of Mediterranean type; on the shores of Lake grow cypresses, laurel plants, camellias, azaleas, rhododendrons, magnolias and palms. In some areas more sheltered and humid you find also a tropical and subtropical vegetation. On the slopes of the mountains around the lake are abundant forests of chestnut trees, and in the most high areas there are pastures, where daffodils and thrushes bloom in spring.
The Center Lake, where the three branches meet, is the mildest point of the climate and with a broader landscape; reached by boat you can enjoy a beautiful view over the promontory of Bellagio, on the northern Grigna dominating the Valsassina and, in terse days, the high basin with Alps in the background. Along the shores of the lake, in particular from Cernobbio to Gravedona, and Bellagio, you can admire the beautiful villas with parks full of flowers and exotic and rare plants. The branch of Lecco is a more rugged and charming landscape, with the southern Grigna (2184 m) of dolomitic origin, and the Horns of Canzo (1373 m) which down to the lake forming picturesque bays and inlets.
How to arrive there
By car: along the motorways linking Milan to Como and the Canton Ticino (A8 and A9), or through the state highway 342 from Varese, and 369 from Como.
By train: you arrive there via Milan with the Italian State Railways, or with the North Milan Railways, while from the north the trains arrive from Central Europe via Gotthard. Menaggio on the western bank, is connected to Lugano from the state highway 340, while Colico, at the northern end of the lake, is in communication with Switzerland by road and rail along two paths: Chiavenna and the pace of Spluga by one hand and Pass Maloja on the other. Lecco is linked both by road and train with Milan and Bergamo, and a fast highway allows to reach quickly Colico and the northern end of the lake.
By air: the nearest airports are Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa and Orio al Serio (Bergamo).
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