After enjoying our driving trip around Spain we decided to do the same thing for Easter around Northern Italy. We flew into Milan late Thursday night and stayed at Hotel Concorde in Gerenzano between the airport and Milan. As we had arrived late there was nothing open for dinner so we had to start Easter early and have a cream egg instead.

On checking out the next day we received a bag of small Easter eggs from the hotel so that was appreciated. Unfortunately it was raining and it continued to rain all day as we drove first to Como for pizza lunch and then as we drove up the inside leg of lake Como. I had heard the views and scenery were excellent and I could kind of imagine that they would be, but for the most part we struggled to see through our fogged up windows and through the mist to the other side of the lake.

The road was very narrow and winding with the buildings right down on the edge of it. All the houses seemed very tall as they followed the contours of the hill up from the lake. We stopped briefly to look across the lake at the villa Balbianello which was used in Star Wars 2 as Padawans safe haven. The villa looked as good as it could through the rain and mist.

Mid afternoon saw us at our destination - Bellagio. It is situated at the join of the two legs of the lake. There seemed to be a one-way system in operation and not many roads suitable for cars. We traveled out of the village for 10 minutes or so up the hill to our hotel Il Pera Panorama. It was only a 2 star but the views even through the clouds were 5 star. Our room was clean and bright and had large glass doors leading out to a balcony, but even from the bed you could see down to Bellagio and across the lake.

View to left of hotel and Bellagio

Click to enlarge

After a relaxing afternoon we took the car (it was still raining) back down the hill and had a brief walk around the village. Many of the roads were staircases with shops and restaurants dotted up them. We did a small circuit and settled on eating at Cafe Barchetta.

The restaurant was on a balcony, but they had roofed it over with plastic and flax, and had dropped down cane blinds as walls, then each table had a gas heater lamp next to it. The effect was a very cosy atmosphere that I really enjoyed. We were given a drink when we arrived which tasted a bit like a liqueur to start and although I tried to ask the waiter what it was I didn't really get a definitive answer.

Gavin's starter of Ravioli was fantastic and really set the scene for a great meal. I was keen to try the lake fish, so interpreted the menu as much as I could with our phrase book and ended up with a medley of trout, lassaro and something else. Each fish tasted quite different. My dessert was the star of the meal. It was a regional speciality of Como, being sort of a pancake with apple baked into it, ice cream and honey sauce, really delicious. The meal on the whole was a great start to our holiday.

Next - Bellagio to Verona

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