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Lake Como was my favourite station throughout the Italia backpacking excursion. If you are new here, review our stops in Rome and Amalfi Coast, along with Firenze and Genova.
Lake Como
With the rain gods delivering a steady semi-cold rain, we arrived at the regional train station in Lierna via Milano.
Lierna is a comune in the province of Lecco in Lombardy, in northwest Italy. It lolls on the eastern shore of Lake Como, approximately sixty kilometres north of Milan and roughly fifteen kilometres northwest of Lecco.
There wasn’t anyone at the Lierna train station when we arrived. Also, to our surprise no taxis, to take us to apartment we were renting. Luckily, the lady that was meeting us to let us into the apartment, picked us up at the train station.
Lake Como, in Northern Italy’s Lombardy region, is an upscale resort area known for its dramatic scenery, set against the foothills of the Alps. The lake is shaped like an upside-down Y, with three slender branches that meet at the resort town of Bellagio.
Litter across many areas in Roma and Lierna are nasone (plural nasoni), also called a fontanella (plural fontanelle, lit. “little fountains”), is a type of drinking fountain found in Rome, Italy. Meaning “large nose”, they got their name from their distinctive design introduced in the 1870s. There are approximately 2,500–2,800 nasoni in Rome, furnishing people with free drinking water.
The nasoni evoked the memory of standpipes in Trinidad that people used to retrieve drinking water, wash clothes, or shower back in the day.
Fort Montecchio-Lusardi
The beauty of the lake Como Italy region is it is not as congested. Being able to rent a car to explore various hamlets along the lake led us to Fort Montecchio.
Fort Montecchio-Lusardi is a military fort situated in Colico near lake Como. It was built between 1911 and 1914. It is the only Italian fort from World War I which has been preserved intact with its original weapons.
Lastly, off all our stops in Italy Rome, Amalfi Coast, Bologna so far Lake Como is my favourite. Next stop….Venice!