lake como advice

[goofy md]

cmvnapa- that place looks nice, I think we will go with a regular hotel this time. but next time..

Villa Serbelloni is sounding better and better. especially if Tremezzo has that much traffic.

Maybe I'll just forgo the lake view. how important is is the lake view?

[tanabutler]

The lake view is world class. C'monnnnnnn. Don't you want to carry that beautiful memory for the rest of your life, and to know that you went for the best?

[Just C]

Hello,

I have some wonderful restaurant recs to share for Lucca, Vorno, and Santa Margherita Ligure if anyone is planning to head out that direction. The restaurants ranged from basic menus but with exceptionally fresh ingredients to highly creative menus, using local ingredients but getting away from the usual preparations. I will post the full names, addresses, etc. as soon as I return to the US.

In the mean time, I am wondering if anyone has any recommendations in Bellagio, Lake Como. I have been trying to use the search feature, but the internet cafe computer I am typing from will have none of it. Any suggestions for restaurants will be greatly appreciated. They certainly don't have to be the fanciest, just good quality food.

Grazie!

[tupac17616]

Da Silvio was the one recommendation I was able to dig up before a day trip to Bellagio last year. Kind of disappointing, though, aside from the view. So I guess this is not a rec, but rather an un-rec.

[LuckyGirl]

After reading this thread and doing some other reading on the net, I chose Bellagio on Lake Como for a recent weekend excursion from Switzerland and I thought I would report on what we found.

I am glad that I chose Bellagio over Como. Como is a much larger town than Bellagio and I don't think we would have enjoyed it as much. For us, Bellagio was just the right size lake town- on the smallish side of a medium size lake town.

We stayed at The Hotel Silvio. Though it wasn't my first choice for accommodations, at the late date I reserved, it was the only place on my list of possibilities that had a room available. The price was right for frugal travelers and the hotel offered all that we needed to be comfortable in an impeccably clean room. Our room was on the side of the hotel where the restaurant terrace is and the noise from breakfast and late dinner service could be heard. We were so happy to be there that the noise that would probably usually bother us didn't matter so much. The second generation proprietors were wonderful. Christian was our server as well as the fisherman who brought in most of what we dined on. We very much enjoyed the family run hotel and restaurant.

BTW, Hotel Silvio is not in the heart of town but rather is up the hill as you head out of town toward Como. We liked not being in the center of town and found the 10 or 15 minute walk into town very enjoyable.

One night we dined at Mella just down the street from our hotel in San Giovanni. I would not recommend this restaurant. The fish and fish dishes (pate, pickled fish, fish sauces, etc.) were nowhere near as well prepared as at Silvio's. I also didn't enjoy the dining room. After dining on the terrace at Silvio's, the upstairs dining room at Mella's felt closed in and stuffy.

We had a lunch on the patio of the Hotel Suisse that was very enjoyable despite the higher than usual cover fee.

We also really enjoyed the cafe on Via Giuseppe Garibaldi right across from the stone church. We used this as our base and had espresso there a few times a day. The fellows that work the cafe were kind and friendly. This cafe was more of a local hangout than most of the other tourist driven cafes.

It was a wonderful weekend trip that gave us a small feel of what lake life in Italy is about and how amazing it is to eat traditional preparations of fish from the lake.