Lake Como Culture

Silk is Como’s identity and still its business: weaving, printing and finishing for fashion houses, concentrated here since the sixteenth century. The city’s silk museum lays out the whole process, and the trade remains a working industry rather than a heritage display.

The gardens are the other cultural export. The lake’s mild microclimate allowed plant collections that should not survive this far north, and Villa Carlotta’s azaleas and Villa Melzi’s layout are the results of two centuries of that experiment.

The food is lake food and mountain food. Missoltini are shad caught in spring, salted, sun-dried and pressed, then grilled and eaten with polenta — a preservation method older than refrigeration and still made. Lavarello and perch come off the same water; polenta uncia is polenta with butter, garlic and cheese; and miascia is a cake built from stale bread and fruit.

Lecco carries Manzoni. The Betrothed is set on its shore and against its mountains, and the town signposts the novel’s locations for the visitors who come specifically for them.