View from Varenna of Lake Como. Photo Everett Potter

By Everett Potter

Several times a year, I’m fortunate enough to cruise up and down the deep waters of Italy’s mountain-fringed Lake Como. I have explored the tourist sights and lesser-known villages, the stately streets of the city of Como, and the hamlets with breathtaking views that will never make it into a guidebook. Lake Como is one of those dreamy places that exceeds expectations, a veritable operatic stage set of villas, garden follies, ferries and speedboats on a 29-mile-long body of water that resembles a fjord more than a lake.

If Lake Como were nothing more than a gorgeous lake in Northern Italy, it would still be one of the country’s star attractions. The lake has one of the most dramatic settings in the world, a inverted “Y” flanked by steep, thickly wooded mountainsides. To the north lie the Alps, which are snow-dusted for much of the year, while along the lakeshore are palm trees next to ornate villas that, in some cases, have origins as far back as the 16th century … continue reading