5 days ago
This under-visited Italian lake has all the charm of Como at half the price
With over two million visitors descending on the shores of Lake Como every year, you'd be hard pushed to believe that less than a 30 minutes drive from its shores lies one of the region's best-kept secrets.
Also known as Lago Ceresio in Italian, Lake Lugano is predominantly located in Switzerland. However, its northeastern branch stretches onto Italian soil into two valleys – the Valsolda and the Val d'Intelvi – both of which fall under the province of Como.
Cut off from mass tourism
This Italian slice of the lake was a popular tourist destination in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when a railway line connected Porlezza, the lake's main town, to Menaggio on Lake Como. Visitors arriving by rail to Lugano would enjoy a leisurely steamboat ride to Porlezza, and from there travel on to Lake Como by train.
The railway ceased to operate following the Second World War, effectively cutting off tourist transport links between the two lakes. These days, you can cycle along the former railway line, passing the Lago di Piano, a nature reserve that serves as an important breeding ground for water birds.
The panorama is strikingly similar to that of nearby Lake Como – craggy slopes carpeted in greenery plunge into the waters on the lake's southern flank, while on the northern shore, a sprinkling of hamlets dot the hillside, connected by a web of mulattiere – ancient trading routes that linked the lakeshore to the surrounding villages. These days, the paths serve as hiking trails, and walking them is the best way to get a feel for the area.
Uncrowded lakeside attractions
This is Lake Como as it once was, long before the rich and famous began snapping up its grand lakeside villas. Lake Lugano's properties may not be as imposing as those on Lake Como, but they are more resonant of the people who once occupied the area. Most famous is Villa Fogazzaro Roi, an exquisite palazzo that was the former summer residence of 19th-century Italian novelist Antonio Fogazzaro.
It has a tranquil lakefront setting in the small village of Oria, less than a five-minute drive from the Swiss border. Its bijou terraces are perfumed by sweet osmanthus blossom in July and September to release a sweet smell that has become the fragrance of the house.
Visits to the Villa are by private tour only, with guides bringing the area to life by reading quotes from Piccolo Mondo Antico, Fogazzaro's most famous work, set on the lake. The interiors are beautifully preserved, every nook left as requested by Marquis Roi, Fogazzaro's great grandson who inherited the villa – the library with its neatly lined tomes; the tableware in the dining room; the writer's desk, engraved with annotations, including a poignant note following the death of his son Mariano.
The real beauty is that you'll likely have the whole place to yourself. Villa Fogazzaro Roi has about 13,000 visitors a year; Villa del Balbianello on nearby Lake Como, meanwhile, sees the same number of tourists in just over 10 days – so many, in fact, that the villa has been forced to limit visitor numbers.
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Nearby at Osteria La Lanterna, owner and chef Pamela prepares authentic dishes following her grandmother's recipes. Her father, a local butcher, taught her the art of preparing Bruna Alpina, a breed of alpine cattle known for its flavoursome meat. On the menu, you'll find the likes of gnocchi with Valsolda goat's cheese ricotta, and Pamela's take on a pizza fritta (fried pizza), deep-fried nettle flour fritters stuffed with burrata cheese.
Cut-price costs
The average cost at a five-star hotel on Lake Como is now upwards of €1,000 in low season. By comparison, on Lake Lugano, prices are much more digestible. At ARIA Retreat, rates for a suite – affording delightful lake views that easily rival those on Lake Como – cost half the price.
It's a sleek spot immersed in secluded subtropical grounds on the southern slope of Mount Bronzone, complete with an adults-only spa, with a glass-fronted panoramic sauna and an indoor/outdoor swimming pool. Guests also have access to all the facilities of sister property Parco San Marco, which spreads out on the hillside below. Facilities for families are excellent, with three kids' clubs, a private beach, two playgrounds, an indoor swimming pool, and two outdoor pools.
A hub of local creativity
Above the lakeside addresses, on a verdant plateau where meadows stretch out to the east, sits the small hamlet of Castello Valsolda, its white houses fanning out in a semicircle on a striking cliffside location. It's a web of alleyways, cobbled stairways and narrow porches where life seems to have stood still. For a hamlet of this size – only 64 people call it their home – it has a surprisingly rich artistic and cultural heritage. Its church, San Martino, has been dubbed 'the little Sistine Chapel', with its vault adorned with intricate frescoes by Baroque painter Paolo Pagani, born here in 1655.
Painters continue to leave their mark on the region. In the small village of Claino con Osteno, artists were recently called to adorn the facades of buildings with scenes inspired by local life (a gaggle of geese and a cat leaning out of a window to a seamstress hard at work) – a project designed to attract more tourists to the village.
From Claino con Osteno, a road snakes inland through the mountainous Val d'Intelvi to reach the Balcone d'Italia, a panoramic viewpoint that offers superlative views over the lake and Campione d'Italia, an Italian exclave which also falls within the province of Como, yet is surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino. Home to some 2,000 residents, Campione d'Italia is mostly renowned for its casino, although it's also home to one of the area's most delightful churches, Santa Maria dei Ghirli.
Essentials
ARIA Retreat & Spa (0039 0344 629 899) has doubles from €650 (£550) per night, including breakfast. British Airways flies from London Heathrow to Milan Malpensa from £92 return.
