12 Truly Interesting Museums of Lake Como to Visit This Fall
Museo Didattico della Seta in Como
Need some inspiration for things to do on your next visit to Lake Como now that we’re in Autumn, and Winter with its cloudy days is just behind the corner?
Visiting a museum is always a good choice: as Renzo Piano used to say, “a museum is a place where one should lose one’s head.”
So… find out our careful selection of 12 interesting museums to visit at Lake Como!
#1 Lake Como Landscape Museum in Tremezzina
The Lake Como Landscape Museum is located in Villa Mainona in Tremezzo.
The museum houses a collection of wonderful ancient prints of the lake (dating back to the 16-19th century) plus a multimedia system with touch screen tables that allows you to compare maps and historical images with the current layout of the region. There's also a special section of the multimedia system dedicated to the “Cinema on Lake Como” including short movies and an indication of the places that hosted the movies shootings (from The Pleasure Garden by Alfred Hitchcock of 1925 to Star Wars Episode II and Ocean′s Twelwe).
Where: Via Statale Regina, 22 Loc. Tremezzo, Tremezzina (CO)
#2 Museo Bernasconi in Cernobbio
That’s a new and original museum hosted in the stunning Villa Bernasconi in Cernobbio, a jewel of Liberty style, newly restored and accessible by visitors.
The villa self-narrates and leads the visitors through an itinerary of discovery, telling about its history and the stories of people who lived there. An experience made of influences and connections, leaded by the #vocidivilla: a innovative and interactive way through multimedia contents, historic objects and documents.
Where: Largo Alfredo Campanini, 2, 22012 Cernobbio
Museum of Villa Bernasconi
#3 Museo della Fine della Guerra in Dongo
“Our Museum: a voice that tells and will continue to tell future generations what is peculiar to Dongo; here was written the last page of the tragic tale of a war and a dictatorship with its heavy burden of deprivation of the most sacrosanct freedoms.”
Dongo is the place where Benito Mussolini and the hierarchs of the Italian Social Republic were captured and taken to the town hall, Palazzo Manzi, to formalize the arrest.
Only a few days earlier, the Sala d'Oro, the hall of honor of Palazzo Manzi, was used as a funeral home for the fallen partisans. The Palace was therefore the scene of memorable historical events and today has become the setting for the Museum of The End of The War: a virtual and interactive journey into the maze of one of the most controversial pages in Italian history. Through finds, documents and testimonies, unpublished films and engaging reconstructions, the exhibition urges the public to become the protagonist of the story. Modern multimedia technologies catapult the viewer into the tragic struggle of Italians against Italians, which characterized the war of Resistance on Lake Como as in all of Italy.
Where: Piazza Paracchini 6
#4 Silk Museum in Como
The Como Silk Museum is the only institution in the world able to tell you about the entire production process, from silkworms to colored yarns, from hand printing to fashion collections.
The Museum collects, preserves and exhibits the testimonies of the Como textile production tradition, such as machines, objects, documents, samples and work tools from the textile processes that gave life to the golden age of silk in Como. Here, the love and passion for silk art have ancient origins, and today all this technical and artistic heritage is organized in an educational space accessible to all.
Where: Via Castelnuovo, 9 - 22100 Como - Italia
#5 International Museum of Vintage Boats in Pianello del Lario
Two millennia of nautical history: this is by far the most Impressive boat collection ever, and you can find it at the International Museum of Vintage Boats in Pianello del Lario!
A unique heritage anywhere in the world, the fruit of years of living and learning on Lake Como and the resulting collection of inestimable value for the nautical sector and Italian history.
There are over 400 historic boats in the collection including rowboats, gondolas, fishing, hunting and smuggling boats, inboard and outboard motorboats, steamboats for passenger transport, Three-point hydroplanes and racing catamarans, sailboats and work boats from days gone by. There are also countless slides, period photographs, and an infinite number of recordings and testimonials from boatbuilders, boatmen and fishermen.
Worthy of note is also the huge library of over 2.500 books and historical and specialist periodicals.
Where: Via Regina 1268, 22010 Pianello del Lario – Lago di Como
#6 Museo Moto Guzzi in Mandello del Lario
The Moto Guzzi Museum is inside the Moto Guzzi motorcycle factory in Mandello del Lario, on the Lecco branch. The museum exhibition traces the history of motorcycle production, from prototypes to the first production models. Among the more than 150 pieces, the first motorcycle built in 1919 by Carlo Guzzi and the first Moto Guzzi GT "Norge" model from 1928 stand out. The exhibition itinerary also focuses on the production bikes that were very popular in post-war Italy.
Where: Via Emanuele Vittorio Parodi 57
#7 Ghisallo cycling museum in Magreglio
The Madonna del Ghisallo Cycling Museum is located in Magreglio in the Lariano Triangle, next to the Sanctuary dedicated to the Madonna, protector of all cyclists in the world.
It’s the only museum in the world that caters to all champions and all cycling enthusiasts: the theme that characterizes it rather dominates it is the love of cycling. The is museum dedicated to the men and women who have used and use the bicycle in daily life and in sports competitions. Internally it’s divided into different sections, which represent different thematic areas (military bicycles, memorabilia, pink jerseys, cycling encyclopedia, women, etc.).
Remember to check the opening times/days on the official website!
Where: Via Gino Bartali 4 - Magreglio
#8 Museo casa rurale in Carcente
Ph Amanda Ronzoni ©
This is quite a hidden gem, nestled in the hillside hamlet of Carcente (San Siro): an old rural house renovated and maintained as left by its last owners. A real legacy to the memory of past and future generations!
This small ethnographic “Museo della Casa Rurale” has been created by the Amici di Carcente Association and collects work tools and household furnishings linked to local history.
The locals preserve and renovate the Museum as a treasure: the mission is to create a thread between past and future generations so that the heritage of local traditions is not lost.
Many events are organized every year at the Museum: exhibitions, concerts, cultural meetings with the aim of creating opportunities for meeting and knowledge in a magical place, rich in history and tradition.
The museum often organizes also interesting exhibitions and live concerts.
The museum is generally open on Sundays but not always - so we suggest to book a visit at: casaruralecarcente@gmail.com
Where: Località Carcente
#9 Museo Etnografico e Naturalistico Val Sanagra
This is a lovely little museum, with many naturalistic and historical references and testimonies of our region. You’ll also find many old pics of Menaggio and surroundings.
You’ll find several rooms, like the section dedicated to fossils, animals, dioramas, the former Menaggio-Porlezza railway stations and freeze-dried mushrooms. On the upper floor you can admire a rich collection of tools formerly used by the locals; noteworthy is the clock of the Naggio bell tower which works thanks to the force of gravity. Lastly, we cannot forget the hall of the Grandola ed Uniti musical band, which no longer exists but is still remembered with sympathy.
Where: Villa Camozzi - Sede Municipio e Museo. Piazza Camozzi, 2 - Grandola ed Uniti
info@museovalsanagra.it • www.museovalsanagra.it
Opening by reservation
#10 Museum of Toy Horse in Grandate
The Toy Horse Museum of Artsana Group, in Grandate, is the first and today the only museum in the world dedicated to toy horses: just to give you a first taste of what this museum protects, it will be enough to tell you that the oldest toy horse there dates back to I cent. B.C (its name is Nino and it’s all made of terracotta!).
The museum is 400 square meters and exhibits an incredibly unique collection: more than 670 toy horses made from the eighteenth century until today, from pretty much every corner of the world.
Where: Via Tornese 10, Grandate (CO). The museum is open from Tuesday to Friday from 15 to 19; Saturday 10-13 and 15-19. Closed on Sunday and Monday. For bookings: infomuseo@artsana.com
#11 House of nativity scenes in Mezzegra
Located in the characteristic historical hamlet of Bonzanigo, the “Casa dei Presepi” is a small museum with a precious permanent collection of nativity scenes and stunning dioramas.
Perfect to visit now that we are approaching Christmas!
#12 Pinacoteca Civica - Art Gallery of Como
Inaugurated in 1989 in the 17th-century Palazzo Volpi, the Pinacoteca (Art Gallery) houses the pictorial and sculptural works of the city’s heritage. The collection, which goes from the Middle Ages to contemporary times, was formed through bequests, donations, purchases; it documents the territory’s artwork from religious buildings, to portraiture, landscapes, genre painting, and then to 20th-century studies related to futurism, rationalism and design.
Where: Via Diaz 84, Como
Phone: +39 031 269869
Mail: musei.civici@comune.como.it
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