Things to do
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Villa Melzi
An English landscape garden running along the water south of the town, laid out in the early nineteenth century with cedars, camellias and a Japanese pond. Liszt stayed and worked here.
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Basilica di San Giacomo
A twelfth-century Romanesque church at the top of the stepped lanes, built by masters from Como. The apse mosaic and the carved capitals are the reason to go in.
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Grand Hotel Villa Serbelloni
An 1852 villa on the point at Bellagio, still family-owned, with frescoed salons and a garden running to the water where the lake divides.
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Punta Spartivento
The northern tip of the promontory, a ten-minute walk from the centre, where the lake divides into its two southern arms. It is the one place the whole geography of Como makes sense from.
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Villa Serbelloni
The estate on the point where the lake splits in two, now a Rockefeller Foundation study centre. The park is seen on a guided walk booked through the tourist office rather than wandered.