TRAVEL: The Lake Como Experience Tourists Rarely See

Driving along the narrow and winding coast of Como offered us a splendid sight. Amid towering cypress trees were quaint family-run hotels and cafes built with age-old bricks, chapels that have stood since the Renaissance, and thick verdant slopes off the Lombardian mountain range, where in the center lies Como’s expansive lake, which is actually considered as the third largest lake in Italy.

The church bell rang six times upon our arrival at the parking lot of our rented cottage, signifying that it was six o’clock pm. Streaks of light from the surrounding villages thus began appearing, illuminating our path along the lake and into a rustic trail uphill that led to our cottage. 

We hiked up the hill with the guidance of our cottage hosts, a Filipino couple who have successfully earned their way in Como through hard work and dedication. Many Filipinos in Italy work as caregivers, like our humble hosts, whose diligence in saving money afforded them with arid land to build a house on. In fact, our male host incrementally built a small cascade of rock cottages with his bare hands in the crest of the hill facing the lake. 

Tucked within a lush garden of trees bearing apples, pears, figs, chestnuts and grapes were those two cottages. Our male host had stacked up bricks,   wedging them along the hill, one above the other. The one above holds a maximum capacity of four people, two in the double decked bedroom, and another two in the sofa bed inside the main room.

Apart from the sofa bed, Inside the main room is a fully-equipped kitchen, a log-burning chimney, lots of cabinets for storage, and a refrigerator that is filled with unopened food items like milk, cheese, jams, chocolates, eggs, butter, not to mention, wine. Linking the two rooms is an Italian style bathroom, complete with hot water, an enclosed shower cubicle, a toilet, bidet and a cupboard stocked with bathroom supplies. 

For our dinner at the terrace, our hosts served us a meal that we would all enjoy and appreciate -- a Filipino meal with Kinilaw - fresh caught fish from the lake, marinated in vinegar and spices, and Pork Adobo - fresh caught wild boar stewed in vinegar, soy sauce and garlic, plus steamed white rice. Obviously, the red wine on our dinner table was the only Italian staple.

While we delighted in our flavorful Filipino meal, our hosts recounted the time that they caught the wild boar in their backyard. Given the fact that wild boars or cinghiali (in Italian) are land-grazing mammals, it did not surprise our hosts to find them in the bushy part of their land, further up from the cottage where we were going to stay. The next thing they did was to place a cage that was big enough to hold one adult cinghiale. 

Since those widespread animals always take the same route, it was expected that one of them ended up in the cage the next day. One of them did, and it heralded our sumptuous dinner in view of Como’s vast and serene lake and its adjacent mystical mountain village.

We stayed out at the terrace for the rest of the evening, immersed in the quietude of our luscious surroundings and the intoxicating zing of our red wine. The thick orchestra of crickets hidden in the nearby olive trees further lulled our senses into oneness with the dense nature abound. Thus, when the wine bottles ran out, the slumbersome melody of the nightingale came through as an invitation to retired in our cozy bedchambers, warmed by the logs that were burning in the chimney.

We woke up to the still early yet brightened sky that appeared through the wide window facing our bed. Outside, the crisp woodsy aroma of our rustic surroundings gave us a wonderful greeting to the promise of a brand new day in Como. 

There was still that refreshing dip in the lake that awaited us, but not before our heavenly dose of fresh brewed coffee and pastries, compliments from our hosts. So, while the moka brewed coffee on the stove, we relaxed on the terrace, watching the natural tones of the lake appear between the mountains. Having this hearty breakfast overlooking the breathtaking panorama of Lago di Como was quite the perfect getaway for us.

As the sun shone stronger in mid-morning, we walked down to the carpark and drove toward the bay for a refreshing dip in the lake. We stopped at a village by the pier called Faggeto Lario that bore a vast patch of grass, a gelateria and a couple of pop-up bars.

The sight of other sunbathers on the garden and on the rocky shore nearby, and the absence of boats gave me the impression that the pier was non-operational for boats at that time. The good thing about that was that we had unlimited use of the pier as jumping boards, as we eventually enjoyed.

The sweet water of the lake felt cool and reinvigorating. Plunging into its cold temperature was what we needed after the many glasses of wine that we indulged in the night before. For the rest of the afternoon, we swam to and fro the pier and the nearby rocky shore until it was time to resurface on dry land and absorb the heat from the sun. 

When the cool breeze blew through the lake, we needed to generate more heat with the help of the wine that was being sold at the mobile shop nearby. We also thought of renting a speed boat for a cruise toward Bellagio from the boat rental shop a few meters away, but it was fully booked so we remained basking on the grassy pier, whilst the sun set beyond the mountains. 

With darkness looming in the sky, we made our way back to our cottage where we found our genteel hosts preparing our dinner table. 

In the midst of the starlit sky and warm solar lights was another delightful Filipino meal of Dinengdeng, a native vegetable dish of our Ilocano hosts, which is made with squash, green beans and fish, Dinuguan, cooked with our hosts’ fresh caught wild boar’s meaty parts simmered in blood, and steamed white rice.

Thus, we lingered at the open terrace, delighting in our meal with a bottle of red wine and assorted cheese, and marveling at Como's serene countryside and majestic lake.

This weekend holiday in Como was certainly what the gods had in store for us. We experienced some of the city’s prized spots, swam in the lake, ate good food, had the beautiful weather on our side, and grateful for the constant presence of kind-hearted people surrounding us, like our very hospitable hosts. 

While there are more places that we still have to visit in Como, it certainly is a worthwhile place to come back to, especially with a cozy lakeview cottage and lovely hosts to give us yet another home in this Northern destination in Italy.