Como, Italy Summary

photo by gusto

COMO can be a dispiriting place to arrive, with none of the picture-postcard prettiness you may be expecting from a lakeside town. As the nearest resort to Milan and a popular stopoff on the main road into Switzerland, it’s both heavily touristed – though the atmosphere doesn’t feel as forced as in some of the other lake towns as many of the tourists are Italian – and, on the outskirts at least, fairly industrialized. Apart from tourism, the main industry is a rarefied one – Como is the main silk-supplier for Milan’s fashion designers – but it doesn’t make its factories any more endearing. If you have time to spare, the old town is not a bad place to wander or eat in, and the funicular ride has great views across the lake, but really you’d do best using the town as a transport hub and moving on to one of the lake’s more attractive resorts.