Virgil called Lake Como “the greatest lake,” said John Powers in The Boston Globe. Franz Liszt spent his honeymoon there. A few years later, Henry James sang its praises. “It’s all so unreal, so fictitious,” wrote James, “so elegant and idle.” More recently, George Clooney bought two eight-figure lakeside villas, and he and his Hollywood pals have brought renewed attention to Lake Como and its hilly shoreside towns. Still, the area—known in Italy as Lago di Como—is very much like it was when James stayed there in 1872.
Seen from an airplane, Lake Como looks vaguely like a modern dancer as drawn by cartoonist Jules Feiffer—arched spine, head tossed back, right leg lifted. The twisting roads around the lake make it almost impossible to admire the views by car. “The best way to see things is the same as in Venice, by boat and on foot.”
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