Pianello del Lario, Your Majesty: Awesome Public Beaches, Water Sports, And a Precious Natural Scenery [Infographic]
We admit it, we have a thing for Pianello del Lario, on the slopes of Monte Bregagno, northern Lake Como: an incredibly sunny and quiet village with a truly (truly) outstanding view on the picturesque Olgiasca promontory (Piona bay) on the eastern coast.
Wherever you go in Pianello, you feel a real sense of peacefulness: the pebbled beach with its crystal waters, the family-run bakery in the narrow street of the village (always the same since 1969), the soothing nature all around.
Pianello is a collection of 13 hamlets scattered along the hill that leads to the lake: Bellera, Belmonte, Calozzo, Camlago, Crotti, Garuso, Maggiana, Mianico, Nasina, Riva, Saliana, Sant'Anna, Tre Terre.
Pianello is strategically located at just 10 km north of Menaggio, where ferries reach the surrounding towns; it’s also 40 minutes from Lugano, Switzerland.
The village has an awesome pebbled beach along with romantic lakeside restaurants.
Pianello lakeshore
Pianello del Lario also offers a tennis court, bars, grocery stores, banks and a post office.
A suggestive pedestrian path of three kilometers was recently completed on the lakefront, which also crosses the neighboring villages (Cremia and Musso) and offers a truly splendid panorama.
Promenade from Cremia to Pianello
Also, in the path called “Passeggiata Breva e Tivan” along the lake you’ll find panoramic benches and… a book-crossing mailbox with FREE books!
Detail along “Breva e Tivàn” promenade
Breva e Tivàn promenade in Pianello del Lario
Historical facts
At the beginning of the 11th century, Pianello del Lario was a "curtis" directed by the Benedictine abbey of San Carpoforo in Como, known as the "Corte di Musso": the village was indeed joined to Musso. The center of the court rose around the current Church of S. Martino and included the abbey building, the castle with walls and moat, the cottages and the church with a small cemetery. The establishment of the parish of Pianello took place only in 1472, after almost a century of hard contention that led to the civil and ecclesiastical separation from Musso.
The navigation station in Pianello
From the end of the eighteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, the history of Pianello was linked to the production of silk, an activity that had a great development on Lake Como, which led most of the population to cultivate vines and mulberry trees to feed the silkworms.
The International Museum of Vintage Boats
Pianello del Lario has its icon: the famous International Museum of Vintage Boats, a place you definitely have to visit at least once if you want to know Lake Como culture in its deepest roots.
After 18 years of closure, the Museum reopened its rooms to the public in the summer of 2018. Located in a splendid 19th-century spinning mill, the Museum protects a unique heritage in the world, born from years of study and deep knowledge of the Larian territory, a collection of inestimable value for the nautical sector and for the history of Italy.
The collection includes over 400 historic hulls including rowing boats, gondolas, fishing boats, hunting and smuggling boats, inboard and outboard motorboats, passenger water buses, three points and competition catamarans, sailing boats and old work boats. There are also tons of slides, period photos, endless recordings and testimonies of shipwrights, barcaroli, fishermen and the vast library with over 2,500 historical and sector books and magazines.
Among the most important pieces of the collection, the museum houses the oldest gondola with felze in the world perfectly preserved.
Don Luigi Guanella
Pianello del Lario is known throughout the world thanks to the work of Don Luigi Guanella, who was parish priest of the town from 1881 to 1890.
Don Luigi created the organization of institutions for the shelter of the elderly and abandoned children; this activity subsequently extended to the rest of Italy, to Switzerland, even reaching America. For this commitment, Don Luigi was proclaimed Blessed by the Church in 1964. His institute for the elderly that he opened in Pianello is still open and functioning today.
Water sports
In Pianello del Lario you can enjoy a wealth of water activities like windsurfing, sailing, and water-skiing. The marina plays host to an annual Easter regatta, a colorful way to usher in spring!
Our fav bakery is… right in Pianello!
Livraghi is our number one choice when it comes to bakeries on the western shore of Lake Como!
Panificio Livraghi
At Livraghi bakery, in fact, there’s still a bit of that atmosphere of the past, when going shopping meant meeting and chatting with the other villagers.
The quality of their products is extremely high: they offer many varieties of bread and - among the "special" ones - rye, corn and walnut bread. The Panificio also produces a remarkable assortment of sweets and biscuits, as well as a delicious "Braschin" (sweet focaccia with walnuts and raisins).
© Lakeside
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