Detailed Facts about Lake Como, Italy

This page can be used as a reference sheet with detailed and interesting facts about Lake Como Italy.

Physical Characteristics

Famous Guests

Cadenabbia

• Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet
• Queen Victoria
• Mary Shelley, writer of Frankenstein
• Cardinal Ratti (the future pope of Pio XI)
• Giuseppe Verdi who composed a part of his opera, La Traviata, in villa Ricordi
• Verdi's music publisher
• German chancellor Konrad Adenauer.

Bellagio/Lezzeno

• Franz Liszt, composer
• Filipo Marinetti, founder of Italian Futurism.
• Rossini, composer
• Lord Byron, writer
• Stendhal, writer
• Percy Bysshe Shelley, writer
• President F.D. Roosevelt
• President J.F. Kennedy
• the Rothschilds
• Mary Pickford
• Douglas Fairbanks
• Maria Schell
• Clark Gable
• Robert Mitchum
• Al Pacino

Moltrasio

• Winston Churchill
• Vincenzo Bellini, composer

Hollywood Celebrities

• George Clooney
• Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie
• Julia Roberts
• Tom Cruise & Katie Holmes
• Antonio Banderas

Stories and Legends about Lake Como

• The fascist dictator Mussolini and his mistress Claretta Petacci were captured in Dongo and later shot in nearby Mezzegra in 1945 while attempting to flee to Switzerland.
  
  
• Franz Liszt wrote his famous Dante Symphony while sitting under a canopy with monuments to Dante and Beatrice in Villa Melzi's lush garden.
  
  
• Mandello del Lario hosted Lake Como's very first town hall during the unification of Italy in the 19th century.
  
  
• One of the first owners of a villa in Lake Como was Pliny the Elder from Roman times. He was able to fish in the lake directly from his window.
  
  
• Malaria was once rampant all over Lake Como and residents sought refuge up in the mountains.
  
  
• Lezzeno was once a haven for witches. Legend says that old and ugly women from Lezzeno had cast a spell on the handsome young men from Lenno across the lake causing them to endlessly burn with desire.
  
  
• The people of Sala Comacina are called "mules" after a fisherman who had raised up a drowned mule into the town's bell-tower. This was apparently due to a deal the fisherman had made earlier with Saint Albino, who promised to save his drowning child if he would load the contents of his net from the tower.
  
  
• A poetic legend claims that Hail Mary had washed the clothes of the baby Jesus in the Fiumelatte river near Varenna.

Famous Quotes about Lake Como

"When you write the story of two happy lovers, let the story be set on the banks of Lake Como."

Franz Liszt

"I should be happy to see you in my little nutshell, which is pretty and comfortable and my gardens are charmant."

Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales

"For those lucky enough to have indulged in Luciano Parolari's repasts, these edible souvenirs evoke the fondest and tastiest memories of their stays."

Alexandra Mayes Birnbaum

"The Italians are so delightfully shameless when it comes to putting on a show."

Tim Parks

"...And then there are all those wonderful theme evenings where special meals are served to complement the event."

Jean Govoni Salvadore

"The precise location of heaven on earth has never been established but it may very well be right here."

Herb Caen

"This lake exceeds anything I ever beheld in beauty."

Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Fountains and Gardens descend at its edge."

Olivier Barrot

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