Alessandro Manzoni set on Lake Como the plot of his book, a nightmare of many students, “Promised Sposes”. And here also, in the point where the branches of the lake that is also called Lario, depart is a small and colorful village, Varenna.
You can get to Varenna by car, but you can also come by ferry from the front Bellagio and on the part of the lake you can better see the small and colorful houses that are reflected on the water. Today a fascinating tourist resort, in the past Varenna was a fishing village and therefore its narrow alleys fan out from the church square and lead to the lake. Always thanks to the lake, and precisely thanks to the mild climate, Varenna is immersed in the lush greenery of the gardens that surround beautiful classic villas, among which the most famous are the < Strong>Villa Cipressi and Villa Monastero. Both can be visited, both facing the lake. Today Villa Monastero can be visited as a house museum and houses a congress center. Adjacent to it is Villa Cipressi, a complex of buildings built between the sixteenth and nineteenth century, with centuries-old terraced gardens and a botanical path unique in the world.
Surrounded by the greenery of the centuries-old olive trees is also the Castle of Vezio, the ancient medieval fortress, located overhanging Varenna and which can also be reached by a walk to feet.